Of the hundreds of photos he took while in Uganda, one of Eric Lawrence’s favourite shots is of a German veterinarian named Dr. Ludwig Siefert leaning out the window of the vehicle he was traveling in. A rifle loaded with tranquilizer darts is in his hands, and Siefert is lining up a shot on a large lion only a stone’s throw away.
The lion doesn’t care for getting hit with a dart; he immediately jumped up and roared his displeasure. (Well, maybe “snarls” may be more fitting.) Eventually, he flopped over, and the other passengers of the vehicle made sure he was out by tossing water bottles at him.
Luckily, they were able to proceed with putting a radio collar on their large male without any problems. Eric himself assisted in monitoring the lion’s vital functions and a few other, uh, duties. Like collecting fecal samples.
“I stuck my finger up a lion’s butt. I’m quite proud of that,” he said with a laugh.
On July 17, Eric Lawrence returned from a seven-week trip to Uganda — just in time for his best friend’s wedding — where he took part in a humanitarian mission organized by himself and his fellow veterinary science students.
Born and raised in Westlock, Eric graduated from St. Mary School in 2004 and completed a degree in agriculture at the U of A. Currently, he is studying veterinary medicine in Saskatoon.
He and his classmates spent a year planning and fundraising for this trip, which was done under the umbrella of a group called Global Vets — essentially a student-run initiative that organizes annual humanitarian missions to Uganda and elsewhere.
“It’s not a charitable organization or government institution; it’s just us,” he said. “It’s just us deciding to do it.”
During the seven weeks he spent in Uganda, Eric split his time between three main projects: working with wildlife in a national park, purchasing goats for a “goat pass-on project” and volunteering with an SPCA in Kampala for a week.
First came working with the lions. Along with a student named Annelie, Eric partnered with Siefert, who has been in the area since the 1970s and has ties to the vet school in Saskatoon.
Aside from the large male, he was also involved in attaching radio collars on a couple of lionesses.
None of them matched the size of the male, however, whose paws were bigger than Eric’s head, he noted.
Of course, he didn’t just spot lions on his trip: he has pictures of all types of animals, including elephants, warthogs, antelope and hippos.
Eric nearly learned the hard way that hippos are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, as he was charged by a hippo one night while out walking. Luckily, he saw it in time and got away without being trampled or worse.
“I was very close to death,” he said.
Prior to heading to Uganda, Eric asked a number of sources for donations to assist in the purchase of goats for a “goat pass-on” project sponsored by the Foundation for AIDS Orphan Children.
The program benefits women, usually those whose husbands have died of the AIDS. Life for women in Uganda can be very difficu < they don’t have a lot of rights or a lot of power, he notes.
As part of the initiative, Eric agreed to purchase a mating pair of goats for a local woman if she agreed to adhere to some animal care practices that will ensure the survival of her new livestock, like the construction of an elevated goat house.
“If they abide by those suggestions, I will buy them two goats,” he said. “It’s a big thing there to have a goat.”
This is a serious commitment, he noted; not following his recommendations means he can actually take the goats away. As well, the beneficiary agrees to trade two of her goat’s offspring to another women.
The Westlock Rotary Club and the non-profit organization called Westlock Rainbow for the Future each donated $500, as did Doug and Wendy Mills and his own family. He raised a total of $1,500 to purchase goats.
“With that $1,500, we helped a lot of women,” he said, indicating he was grateful to his sponsors.
As vets, they were also working with local animals, helping to control outbreaks of brucella, a bacterial infection common to goats and sheep.
He also took part in a presentation put on for a group of local women hosted in a rural church where he talked about goat houses using a model he had built.
Over 100 women came out to listen, which Eric notes was a good turnout.
While taking a group picture with the women who attended the workshop, Eric was struck again by the differences between men and women in Uganda and their roles in society.
“For me to come in there and sit in the picture with them … I helped the one woman stand up and she was like, ‘Oh, thank you so much,’” he said.
During the last five days of his trip, Eric and his classmates assisted with an SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in the capital city of Kampala.
The Kampala SPCA was a surprisingly well-funded organization, with sponsors that Eric believes came from the U.S.
He and his classmates spent their time working with maintenance of the place and treating the animals for wounds caused by flies. Much of his time was spent rubbing cream on the dogs’ ears to sooth their insect bites.
In a way, it was in sharp contrast to how things are normally run in Uganda. The corruption of the authorities was what most disturbed Eric about his time there.
He speaks with considerable bitterness about the “free elections” and the seemingly unending term of Yoweri Museveni, who has been president since 1986.
“The government is corrupt at every level,” he said. “I felt very hopeless at times.”
However, Eric takes some solace in the knowledge that purchasing goats, working with animals — those were things that had an impact, even if it was a small one.
There are success stories from these missions, including one woman that was helped by the goat pass-on project. She went from being essentially penniless to a level of prominence in her community and joining her town council because she was the beneficiary of this goat pass on project.
“On the big scale, that’s what makes me feel better,” he said.
Looking back on it, he thinks that it might have even been too much of a time investment; it took so much work to plan the trip, and he had to do much of that work at the same time he was at school.
But at the same time, he’s realizes this was an opportunity to help people directly, as well as to expand his own knowledge as a veterinarian. Plus, he got to take in some very breathtaking sights.
“Africa, the wildlife of Africa, has always been a destination for me to see,” he said.
