Third-year Chiropractic students Tamia Abrahams and Kesego Chika are excited to have been selected to play vital roles at the 2021 African Regional Event (ARE) taking place at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in 2021. The elections for nominations took place during the World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS) annual general meeting (AGM) 2020, an international forum representing the global student chiropractic population.

The 42nd AGM was scheduled to be held in Toronto, Canada, but due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, was moved online and held in early July 2020.

Abrahams was chosen to be the convener of the 2021 African Regional Event and Chika was re-elected into the Legislative Committee as the Chair for 2020/21.

Speaking on her new role as convenor, Abrahams said she was thrilled when she was nominated for the position of the regional event convener.

“When I heard I had been selected to host the event, I was nervous and excited. To host an event of this magnitude is not an easy job and this was one of my first thoughts, however I am very keen to commence the planning process,” she said excitedly.

Elaborating more on her role, she said it included the planning, organising and execution of the World Congress of Chiropractic Students (WCCS) African Regional Event (ARE).

“This includes inviting exciting speakers to come and inspire our young chiropractors in the making over the period the conference takes place, making sure the delegates are having an engaging and interactive time at the event and that they are able to learn and connect with their fellow peers outside of a lecture environment with chiropractic students and chiropractors from all over the African region,” she said.

Abrahams emphasised that it was vital for DUT Chiropractic students to be part of the WCCS as it is gives one an opportunity to be part of something very important.

“It is a group of like-minded, aspiring chiropractors who are enthusiastic about their profession. Through our global organisation you are able to connect with people from as close as Johannesburg and as far as Canada. The special common thread that binds you together is chiropractic. You also make friends for life around the world,” she added.

With the Coronavirus pandemic, Abrahams added it had impacted on her future role, especially with the 2021 African Regional Event taking place next year.

“At this stage we are still weighing up the option of hosting the event online as the 2020 African Regional Event has received such great success. We would, ideally, like to host the event in person so we hope that this will be possible,” she said.

Abrahams stressed that the hope is to host the event on a weekend in the first quarter of next year and have a range of exciting speakers in the field of chiropractic and healthcare as a whole.

“The goal of an event like this is to inspire and refresh the passion for chiropractic and being in the field of health care. We aim for our delegates to leave the conference feeling renewed and enthusiastic to get back into class, clinic (or practice) and be able to achieve their chiropractic and personal goals,” she said.

In the near future, Abrahams hopes to become a member of Chiropractic Sport South Africa and work as a sports chiropractor with local or international athletes.

“Apart from that, I would like to spread awareness of chiropractic in underprivileged communities and use my platform with athletes and other health professionals to inspire and educate children and adults alike,” she said.

Another individual that was nominated is Kesego Chika, who has been involved with WCCS since 2016 when she was doing her first year.

“During this AGM I was re-elected into the Legislative Committee as the Chair for 2020/21 and my term as Chair for the DUT chapter will be coming to an end, therefore, my role will be mostly as an adviser with no voting rights,” she said.

Elaborating more on her role on the Legislative Committee she said that as the Chair of the Legislative Committee, she will be responsible for managing the official Legislative Committee email and communication with the Board of Director Liaison.

“This includes spending about 25% of her time in meetings during the term, as well as providing the Board of Directors with written quarterly reports, if requested,” she said.

Explaining more on the African Region event, she added that to date, no plans have been made yet due to COVID-19.

Pictured: [Left] Kesego Chika, [Right] Tamia Abrahams,

Waheeda Peters