Where in the World is Meredith?

Today we got to practice suturing which was really awesome and I loved getting to learn lots of new sutures. I decided that when I get home I need to get some tools so I can practice my sutures at home. Then we cleaned up some more of the areas on the farm to prevent fires. We had a brief talk after lunch and then went on a nature walk. For dinner, we had a braai (like a barbecue) at one of the volunteer houses and played charades and some improve games. I have just finished packing up and am all ready to go! I can't believe it has been two weeks already and I am going to miss this place and these people so much. I had the most amazing time here and will never forget this experience and all I have learned. ubuntu - you are who you are because of the influence of others

Friday 6/30/27 Today we did sutures and diagnostics in the morning. We learned about different blood tests, practiced making blood smears, stained slides, looked at blood smears and fecal samples under the microscope, learned hand ties, did drug calculations, and learned a bunch of different suture patterns. It was a ton of fun and it helped reinforce some things I learned in school this year and also taught me some new things! After lunch we had a lecture on breeding and reproduction, we learned about the cheetah breeding program here, and learned about leopards. Afterward, we did physical exams on horses and dogs. After we were all done a few of us walked the dogs back to the house which was a fun little stroll.

Thursday 6/29/17 Today we fed the cheetahs again! It was pretty much the same as the other day so I won't go into all the details. After lunch, we had a lecture about anesthesia and analgesics and then we got to make our own blow darts and use them to pop balloons attached to cardboard animals! It was so much fun (even if my aim wasn't any good) and turns out, making a blow dart isn't too hard if you have the right tools! We didn't do what would have been the hardest part (altering the needle on the end so that the drugs stay inside the dart until it enters the animal) because we didn't have any liquid in our darts since we were just popping balloons but they did tell us how we would do that.