Global Health as a Fourth Year!

Jessi McDade, MS4

Hi! I’m Jessi, one of the MS4’s here at Duke. I was lucky enough to organize a whole month-long rotation in Mwanza, Tanzania this past fall where I was working closely with Duke Pediatric Neuro-oncologist Kristin Schroeder taking care of children from all over Tanzania who have cancer.

Instead of writing a sad post about some of the realities of medicine in Mwanza vs Durham, I thought I would talk about how my trip came to a close. For my last weekend, only two days before I left the country, Kristin and I took a two-day safari together to Ngorongoro crater and Tarangire National Park. Now, one thing you must know about me before truly understanding this story is that besides having a pretty deep love of all animals, I LOVE cats. Every kind of cat. Especially big cats. So naturally, going on safari was something I was thrilled about.

Kristin (right) and myself (left) on top of Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania

Our first day was honestly a little bit scary because our Jeep broke down on the side of a very steep hill, and on the other side of the hill were two lions. This may not sound scary to you, but if you imagine yourself in a Jeep with no windows, a big hole in the ceiling, three humans, and three large boxes full of snacks for said humans, you could see why two wild lions might think that our Jeep was just a cage full of defenseless cat food. Needless to say we were fine, but we did not end up getting a very close view of any lions that day (maybe for the best).

On our second day, I had the incredible opportunity to see a ton of animals I had never seen in person: giraffes, baby elephants, hyenas, baboons. I was already pretty satisfied with my entire safari experience. And then BAM – we turned a corner and there were three other safari vehicles parked on the side of the road with every person in those three cars pointing to one side and looking like they were over-the-moon about something. One thought and one thought only crossed my mind: LION. And sure enough, there was a lion. And another lion. And actually eight lions, all in one place approximately 10ft from our car. Then one of the lions sauntered on over to our car, as if attracted to my cat magnet aura, and just leaned on our car, laid down and took a nap. Oh. My. Gosh. Happy tears literally streamed down my face. They are such majestic animals – so deliberate and thoughtful about their movements, so ginormous… and so, so sleepy.

A photo I took of three lions in Tarangire national park.

We sat in our Jeep and watched this pride of lions for over an hour and a half. This was one of the best experiences in my life. It’s hard to explain fully how different seeing these animals in the wild was than seeing them in a zoo or even in a wildlife reserve. I was lucky to have been in the right place at the right time, just watching a pride of lions yawn, groom themselves, nap, re-situate, cuddle, or stare at me staring at them.

I tried to bring this feeling back with me to Durham when I returned for what turned out to be the busiest time of med school – residency interview season. I look back on my time in Tanzania as a time where I was always present. I was there, in the moment, more than I have ever been before. I was feeling every feeling to the fullest, be it devastation over the loss of one of our patients, fear over the legitimate possibility of being lion lunch, or gratitude that the universe granted me this special opportunity to meet so many incredible souls halfway across the world who I may never see again. Neighbors, friends, taxi drivers, patients, doctors, expats, total strangers - and even lions – touched my life and changed my future direction.