Clara Sarkissian Travels to Belize
Loop Abroad
This summer, Clara Sarkissian, 22, of Summit, NJ, spent two weeks in Belize helping animals, discovering Belizean culture, and learning hands-on what it’s like to be a veterinarian. Traveling with study-abroad organization CELA Belize, Clara was selected as part of a small team that volunteered at working ranches and local farms caring for horses, sheep, cattle, and pigs.
The Large Animal Veterinary Medicine program brings students to Belize for two weeks to volunteer alongside Belizean veterinarians and learn from them and from Belizean animal experts. Clara and her team took a course in the husbandry and health issues confronting farm animals in Belize so that they could be better equipped to study and help support animals in the tropics as well at the farms where they spent their time.
Belize is only a two-hour flight from Miami, but it faces different farming and environmental challenges than the US. The nation is over fifty percent rainforest, which provides unique conservation opportunities and a chance for students to learn from the hard-working local veterinarians who help to sustain the agriculture industry in Belize.
Clara and her team provided care for the animals at working ranches and farms, including horses, sheep, cattle, and pigs. In addition, they helped to host a free small pet clinic for animals owned by locals in the area. Clara and her team were also able to explore San Ignacio, a town in the Cayo District of western Belize.
CELA Belize has animal science and veterinary programs for undergraduate and veterinary students, as well as internship programs throughout Belize.
Programs are offered in summer and winter and are two weeks long, and college credit through Iowa Wesleyan is available. Interested participants can inquire or apply at celabelize.com. Professors and teachers who want to travel with a group of students to Belize can work with CELA to connect their students with local conservation projects, schools, development projects, and service learning opportunities.
By following a study abroad model instead of a voluntourism model, CELA Belize focuses on educating its students so that they can contribute and serve in meaningful ways. Students learn from the expertise of local Belizean staff. It also works with locally run animal welfare organizations so that students contribute to long-term improvement on the ground in the countries they visit. CELA has been based in Belize for over a decade, and with the help of students like Clara, continues to help support important sustainability and development projects in Belize.
The program’s Managing Director Jane Stine says, “Our students come to Belize because they want to experience another culture in a way that supports and learns from the local expertise. On this program, they have the chance to see Belize from a Belizean point of view and learn from our amazing veterinary team, and we love seeing them bring that knowledge and experience home to move even further in their veterinary and conservation careers.”
Of her trip, Clara says, “I have spent a month in Belize learning and working in wildlife conservation and large animal medicine. My experience has further secured my passion to become a veterinarian and helping the animals we all know and love..”
Clara is a Senior at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, majoring in Animal Science.
Photos by Loop Abroad
