Samantha Przybylek, Miss Kitsap 2008, has been given the chance to take her nursing assistant skills to Sakila, Tanzania May 18 and she is looking for help from the community to make it happen.
Przybylek, who has lived her entire life in Seabeck, has spent years as a certified nursing assistant working at Belmont Terrace, a Bremerton elder-care facility. She has applied to several area colleges, including Olympic College, where she intends on pursuing a degree in nursing and ultimately hopes to become a pediatric oncologist.
Przybylek, 22, part of International Evangelism Outreach (IEO), a Poulsbo-based nonprofit dedicated to helping the people of Tanzania with their medical and educational needs, is hoping to join 19 other Northwest medical professionals on the trip.
“We will be spending three weeks primarily in the Sakila village medical clinic,” Przybylek said. “But we will have two practitioners and a doctor so we will be able to split up into three groups and travel around to other villages bringing them medical care they would not have had access to.”
The focus of the trip will be mostly to help mothers and their babies, according to Pryzbylek.
“Prenatal, maternity and urgent care are the three things we are most focused on,” she said.
Although Przybylek has never made a trip like this before, she has wanted to for a long time.
“This will be my first medical mission trip,” Przyzblek said. “I am really excited to go. This has been my dream since I was in sixth grade.”
Przybylek has gathered $3,100 of the $4,000 she needs to make the trip and is seeking help from the community in gathering the remaining $900.
“There are instructions on my Web site, http://sunnyinafrica.wordpress.com, on how to send in donations,” Przybylek said. “They need to be mailed to the IEO post office box so that I can track who has donated. I have a little incentive for those people once I get there.”
Much of the money Przybylek has raised so far has been from individuals in the local area, but she also has gathered money from some local businesses like Triangle Import Repair and the Silverdale Dental Center.
“This would not be possible without their help,” Przybylek said. “I owe them a lot and I am confident I’ll get the remainder in time. There are a lot of good people in our community.”
