Presenter: Shannen Auffarth, Animal Science, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum, I worked on an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia. My trip was organized through Reach Out Volunteers, an organization assisting those in developing nations. I consulted websites our class frequently uses, like the CDC, and had determined that I needed to get a typhoid vaccination, hepatitis A vaccination, and anti-malaria medication (I’m already vaccinated against rabies). After two days of flying, I arrived at the wildlife sanctuary and settled into my bungalow, where I stayed for the week. Some tasks were completed daily, such as scooping elephant feces, feeding the animals on the sanctuary, and immersing myself into Cambodian culture. Additionally, my time in Cambodia was spent assisting the community in various ways on certain days. We (my volunteer group) visited the local Cambodian school funded by Reach Out Volunteers to teach the students English, mixed cement and built a dam to collect fresh water for the animals on the sanctuary, planted seeds in the sanctuary’s plant nursery, built a fire break to protect the environment, blessed trees to prevent them from being cut down, interacted with locals regularly, and learned more about Buddhism by visiting temples and speaking with monks. My trip overall was focused on the one health approach, with us gaining a greater understanding of the intertwined health between people, animals, and the environment, by experiencing it firsthand in a developing country.