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| Charlene Grice & Dr. Joe Collins |
The 2014 winner of the Mike O’Leary Trust Travel Bursary was Charlene Grice, a third
year veterinary student in UCD. Charlene travelled to Uganda in July 2014 to visit
our animal traction project. This is the tenth year of the Bursary which
sponsors a veterinary student each year to spend a month visiting one of VIVA's
overseas projects. The Mike O'Leary Trust was established to honour the memory
of Kerry vet, Mike O'Leary, who died tragically of cardiomyopathy in 2003 at the age of 39. His
family and friends have undertaken a number of fundraising initiatives over the
years to raise funds for the Travel Bursary in addition to supporting the Irish
NGO, GOAL, and cardiomyopathy research.
According to
Charlene “it was truly amazing to witness how hard working these farmers are
and how far and how quickly they have been able to progress. The average
initial investment in each farm is actually less than €250 so it is quite
impressive”
On March 31st Charlene delivered a lecture in UCD's Veterinary College on her experiences in Uganda to her fellow students. She was joined by Dr. Joe Collins who spoke on his experiences volunteering with Animal Care Egypt (ACE) who provide veterinary services to working equines in the Luxor region in Egypt. Both lectures gave a very interesting overview to students of the important role played by livestock and working equines in rural communities in the Developing World.
