Perspectives Winter/Spring 2019

32 | DR. PALLAVI PATEL COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES EVENT Perspectives | MAY 2018 Medical Safari Reflections from the 2018 International Congress The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) holds an international congress every four years to encourage professional fellowship, exchange technical and scientific information, and promote high worldwide standards of practice. The United States has been a member country since 1952, and scholarship at this congress is highly regarded within the profession. NSU occupational therapists embrace every opportunity to engage in and observe the variety of occupations around them and in the world. A search for the meaning of the term safari results in multiple occurrences of the word journey. This article details the experiences of NSU occupational therapists in South Africa and at the WFOT Congress. South Africa itself was an amazing landscape of people, history, flora, and fauna. The people were warm and welcoming, despite struggling with social inequi- ties like the rest of the world. Several NSU occupa- tional therapy (OT) travelers had the opportunity to experience South Africa before or after the congress. Rebecca I. Estes, Ph.D., OTR/L, CAPS, department chair and professor, had the opportunity to observe the occupations of a safari driver and guide who could identify animals by paw prints and bent foliage, even in the dark at 5:00 a.m. She was fortunate to visit a Zimbabwe traditional home, view some quilted pieces, and have dinner with a family where the meal included numerous dishes not seen in the United States, such as fried caterpillars. In his role as a master practitioner and teacher of ikebana (traditional Japanese flower arrangement), Ricardo C. Carrasco, Ph.D., O.T.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, program director and professor, was able to connect with the West Cape Ohara Association through an EVENT PERSPECTIVES The NSU OT contingent is shown at the WFOT Congress in South Africa.