COVER STORY PROFESSION A TRIP TO TANZANIA How volunteering changed my outlook on the profession, and on life I BY DR. KAYLA MAYBERRY n 2016 I was fortunate enough to have the opportu-nity to use my new chiropractic skills to volunteer in Tanzania. I had just graduated from CMCC and was looking forward to being able to use chiroprac-tic to give back in a needed demographic, what I did not expect was how much it would give back to me. Through the program Global Peace Network (now under a program called Pos+Abilities) I was one of three volunteers from my graduating class. The other two volunteers had spent the summer, and I would be there for the fall months. Fortunately my friend was part of the summer pair and she was able to extend her stay by a couple of weeks to help me acclimate. I left for Tanzania in October 2016. It was a 26-hour journey that turned out to be much longer thanks to delayed and cancelled flights and no ability to rebook. Growing up in a small town in New Brunswick, I can say I was a bit naive as to how travel would work in Africa. Arriving at the interna-tional airport in Dar Es Salaam I had a couple of hours to wait for my next flight to Mwanza. The airport was quite empty, there was no air conditioning. I was traveling with my own suitcase as well as two boxes of medical supplies, which made moving around the airport difficult. After waiting for several hours, I learned my flight to my next destination was cancelled and was not immediately rescheduled. I was given the option to take a bus which would take 24 hours (not very appealing after almost 40 hours of travel already), someone offered to rebook me on a flight, but very conveniently the price of the flight continued to go up the longer they looked at the options. I had minimal to no access to wi-fi, I did not have a data DR. KAYLA MAYBERRY, DC, is from Quispamsis, New Brunswick. She graduated from CMCC in 2016 and currently practices in Saint John, New Brunswick. She likes running, golfing, traveling, and hiking with her dog/ co-worker Charlie. My smiley, 12-year-old patient with cerebral palsy. Just one of the experiences that taught me the importance of patient education. plan for my phone, and felt like i was running out of op-tions. Luckily after several hours, I was able to get one of the last seats on a flight leaving in the early afternoon. Due to the delays and lack of ability to communicate, my friend was forced to wait at the airport in Mwanza as i was una-ble to let her know of the issues I was having. Needless to say, when I finally landed in Mwanza and was able to shower and nap, I was quite relieved. The initial plan had been to go to the clinic on this first day, but due to delays, my first clinic day was my second day in Mwanza. Much like my first day, the second day was a bit of a rough start. The roads were a bit of a free-for-all in some places, traffic was scary at times, there were people, dogs, bikes, and giant ugly birds everywhere. Halfway to the clinic on the first day, the driver taking us, hit and killed a puppy without even attempting to avoid it, as a dog lover, this was a hard blow. The first sentence I learned to say in Swahili was “I like dogs” (“napenda mbwa”) and i am happy to report the driver drove around every dog after that for the remainder of my stay, but it was a continued rough start. The office space was very rural. There was no power in the building, there was no running water, the washroom was a hole in the ground, there were lizards www.Cndoctor.ca 20 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor July/August 2020
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