UM students traveled to Africa to help out with school project

Last summer, instead of spending days on the river, drinking and indulging on all the personally gratifying vices the season has to offer, a small group of UM students called Global Grizzlies left their comfort zones to aid those who desperately need help in the northeastern African country of Uganda.
“The biggest impact we had was just being there,” trip leader Hayley Blackburn said.
“You can read all the articles you want about Africa, but you can never understand the situation until you see it for yourself.”

Last summer, instead of spending days on the river, drinking and indulging on all the personally gratifying vices the season has to offer, a small group of UM students called Global Grizzlies left their comfort zones to aid those who desperately need help in the northeastern African country of Uganda.
“The biggest impact we had was just being there,” trip leader Hayley Blackburn said.
“You can read all the articles you want about Africa, but you can never understand the situation until you see it for yourself.”
Global Grizzlies started off as two UM students’ senior projects to fulfill Honors College requirements.
What evolved was a new and ongoing ASUM student group dedicated to traveling abroad and providing aid in developing countries.
The first Global Grizzlies trip took the students to the town of Ginja, Uganda and surrounding areas.
In June UM graduate Blackburn and student Sadie Linford led the student group on the volunteering trip.
Hayley and Linford were both pre-med majors at the time, but most of the students had little to no medical experience.
A pre-trip class taught by Dr. Tom Bulger, who works at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, focused on basic training such as CPR certification and administering immunizations.
Group member Ian Bassingthwaighte said there was some apprehension about traveling to Africa because of preconceived notions and stereotypes.
Bassingthwaighte said that people were scared about factors such as disease, but none of these issues affected any part of the trip. 
While in Uganda, the Global Grizzlies drove Land Rovers to rural villages all over the area and taught people things such as basic hygiene.
“What we think is so simple, things we take for granted such as brushing your teeth, they don’t know how to do these things,” Blackburn said.
Because the students were able to accomplish basic tasks such as cleaning, immunizations and hygiene classes, certified nurses and doctors had additional time to focus on more extensive and pressing medical treatments.
The group also spent a lot of time working in understaffed orphanages.
In the end, the Global Grizzlies donated approximately $8,000 to hospitals, orphanages and communities in the area. 
This money went towards new surgical equipment, better hospital beds, and even farm animals.
Overall the effects of the trip were felt far and wide.
While working at a dental clinic run by a Seattle-based dentist, the students helped more than 90 patients each day.
Blackburn said one particular woman stood out in her memory.
She didn’t speak a lick of English and had just received a filling and didn’t seem to want to leave.
After repeatedly saying a phrase that the students didn’t understand, a translator was brought over.
She was saying, “Thank you. We expected the service, but we didn’t expect the care.”
kelsey.bernius@umontana.edu