When St. Ambrose occupational therapy student Carol Haywood first met fellow student Father Simon Taabu, she had no idea she'd eventually be taken on a physical and emotional journey halfway around the globe.
Haywood, a senior who's always had a passion for traveling the world and learning about other cultures, says she was speechless when Father Simon first suggested that she visit Tanzania last summer. But before Haywood knew it, she was packing her bags and heading overseas.
Haywood ventured to Africa with her boyfriend Ben Grace, a sociology and biology major at Augustana College in Rock Island. The two spent two weeks in Mwanza, a main city in Tanzania, while Father Simon finished up a summer class at St. Ambrose. Grace and Haywood's first few weeks were spent teaching English at a care center for local children that either had AIDS or a parent with AIDS. Additionally, the two traveled to a leprosy camp and spent a weekend in Rwanda visiting the refugee camps that still exist today.
"The people kept saying that, while they were poor in pocket, they were rich in friends," says Haywood. "There were many evenings I was so overwhelmed by emotions that I couldn't't sleep or collect my thoughts to write in my journal."
Once Father Simon arrived in Tanzania, Haywood says the pace of the trip changed as they were able to really immerse themselves in the local culture. The trio hopped from village to village meeting Father Simon's friends and family while partaking in unique experiences such as a local wedding and ordination. "We were so welcomed in Tanzania with an outpouring of generosity from the people there," Haywood says.
One of her most memorable exexperiences is when she met a single mother of six children who made the equivalent of $8 a month. "I couldn't express to this woman how remarkable I thought she was for caring for her family in the way that she did, and all she wanted to do was make sure that we'd eaten and had a chair to sit on," Haywood says. "It was extremely humbling."
As part of the trip, Haywood, Grace and Father Simon brought two suitcases of supplies donated by various people on campus. Liz Berridge, SAU director of graduate student recruitment, and her Kiwanis chapter made a donation, and SAU Nurse Nancy Hines donated all the remaining first-aid supplies from kits provided to RAs. Haywood's own academic department of occupational therapy provided $100 worth of crafts for the children, and the Athletics Department donated soccer balls and rubber gloves.
While Haywood isn't entirely sure what she'd like to do after she graduates in May 2009, she says working with the OT department to integrate this experience into her curriculum has really changed the way she thinks of OT on an international scale. "When you're working with marginalized populations, there is so much that must be examined in the context of the physical environment. Where do you even start when there isn't a system already in place?" Haywood asks. Among the villages she visited, there was one regional hospital that served over 250,000 citizens, and there wasn't a physical therapist or occupational therapist working at the hospital.
Looking back, Haywood says the key to success will be to develop a program similar to Doctors Without Borders, which is privately funded and allows health care professionals to impact a community on a large scale. "Occupational therapy is about getting people back to their lifestyles, but the Tanzanians I met don't have a choice. You have to thrive or you won't survive," Haywood says. "I'll never be able to face forward and walk away from this experience. It's not about working with people one at a time anymore - it's much more systematic than that."
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