VN April 2022

Vetnuus | April 2022 18 Vetbooks for Africa Vetbooks for Africa is an Onderstepoort Student initiative where students drive up into Africa to distribute Veterinary books. To date, Vetbooks for Africa have made 14 trips, reached 6 universities, travelled 97 000 kilometres, distributed approximately 2600 books, and changed too many tires to mention. The group distributes textbooks, journals, and other veterinary supplies and equipment to veterinary faculties, rural communities, conservation organizations and schools in various countries of Africa. They also aided and volunteered at veterinary clinics and conservation sanctuaries on the route. The Vetbooks for Africa committee of 2022 aims to take Vetbooks for Africa to the next level. The plan is to grow by visiting more countries and organizations. The countries on their target list include Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. They plan to support 18 organizations (universities, conservation organizations and schools). They need seven (7) weeks to make the trip and achieve this goal. However, their academic calendar only allows them to make the trip in 5 weeks and two days. They can only reach all the countries by splitting the trip into two parts! The first part will already take place in the July holiday, and they will be travelling to Zimbabwe and Zambia, where they will be visiting the following 6 organizations: University of Zimbabwe, Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary, Mukuvisi Woodlands, University of Zambia, Lilayi Elephant Nursery, Leopard hill veterinary clinic During the December holidays, the team will be visiting Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. This year the Vetbooks for Africa team plans to visit schools throughout Africa during their trip in December 2022/January 2023. v