How living and studying in healthcare powerhouse India changed Flavia’s life

That was in 2011, the beginning of five years as a Tanzanian diaspora in one of the largest economies in the world, a country renowned for their medical advancement.

Flavia’s days in India presented an era of new insights. She stayed in a region where they spoke Telugu, one of the major Dravidian languages spoken primarily in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Like Tanzania, India has a vast linguistic diversity, with the lingua franca being Hindi.

Her interest in pharmacy is inherent. Her parents owned a pharmacy store in Mwanza that she frequented as a child.

On a particular day, as she was coming from school going home, she stopped by her family-owned pharmacy.

But to her dismay, she was kicked out by the pharmacist who was on duty.

She returned to her father, voicing her grievance about being kicked out, but more importantly, she wanted to know what she could study so she could run the store.

“I vowed to study and go back to run the store,” she laughs. That moment helped spark the fire that would lead Flavia to take her diploma in pharmacy at Bugando Medical Centre.

True to her word, after she graduated, she went to run the family drugstore.

But after one year, her dad advised her to go to India for further studies.

“Worldwide, when it comes to medical and health studies, there is no better country than India,” she says.

Most of the largest economies, like the US, Canada, the UK, have invested heavily in the medical industry in India and the country has solidified its role as a significant player in the global medical and healthcare industry, combining advanced technology, skilled labour, and affordable care.

Even though her studies back then were so affordable with the low cost of living, Flavia was blessed with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study what she had always dreamt about.

The first time landing in India, it took her time to adjust to the time difference.

Her twin, who was a law student who was already familiar with India, took her out for dinner.

Her first culinary experience with Indian cuisine shocked her.

"I ordered spaghetti, and it was served with chili. It was incredibly hot, and I was told that almost every dish here has a hint of pepper," she recalls.

Everyone around her table was laughing at her. All her Tanzanian friends were now accustomed to the Indian food.

What they served her was ‘Khaati/Kaadi,’ a yoghurt-like drink that would help her when the food gets too hot.

In India she met many Tanzanians from all regions.

“I met Tanzanians from Musoma, Iringa, Zanzibar from all places,” she says.

Tanzanians in India are involved in various activities. Some are there for business, studies and some have married locals.

All in all, there is a huge Tanzanian community, and “everyone knows everyone.”

The community grew exponentially during the time she was there.

Studying in India presented her with unique access to hands-on experience.

She visited factories, got to see how medicine is made, studied cosmetics, went to different pharmaceutical industries, and learnt more.

She even took ‘traditional medicine’ studies.

"The natural medicine that is often shunned in Tanzania and confused with 'waganga wa kienyeji' (voodoo medicine) is widely accepted in India, where they extract medicine directly from nature—using trees, leaves, and other natural sources to create remedies from scratch," she says.

That knowledge proved useful and gave Flavia an edge, when she came back home, most of her peers who studied in Tanzania didn’t possess the skill to make their own medicine, the skill that she acquired in India.

“I had a cousin with chickenpox. I made him the remedy from scratch, and the next morning he was completely cured,” she mentions.

In her early 30s, Dr Flavia Chacha is now the managing director of the family-owned CF hospital in Mwanza, with a branch in Musoma and ambitious plans to open other branches in other regions of Tanzania.

Before that she worked in a government hospital in Kigoma.

She attributes her success to studying in India, where she learnt how seriously they invest in education.

She urges Tanzania to collaborate with other countries like India so that we can benefit from knowledge-sharing.

At present, Tanzania takes doctors for short-term refresher courses there.

But she feels like having an Indian university facility in Tanzania would help solidify the cooperation and breed our healthcare professionals here.

“The healthcare industry in India is reliable, with critical patients often referred there when local treatment fails. In Indian colleges, even 16-year-old students would invent their own medicine and present it to professors, showing their focus and ambition,” she says.

Flavia’s handwork and dedication to her studies paid off, she volunteered at the renowned Apollo Hospital, one of India’s leading healthcare providers.

The experience was intense and groundbreaking and gave her insights into the medical field that she uses to this day.

“In Swahili, we say Uwe na wivu wa maendeleo, which means being envious of others' progress—not in a way that wishes them to fail, but as a desire to learn how they achieved it,” she says.

And that’s what Dr Flavia urges Tanzanians to be like.

“We should learn how India has triumphed in medicine and healthcare so that as a nation we can do the same,” she advises.

After finishing studies in India she turned down opportunities to work in the US so she could return to Tanzania to serve her community.

Her studies in India were very affordable in 2011.

She mentions that food is cheap, keeping the cost of living low, which creates a conducive environment for young Tanzanian students.

She hopes many Tanzanians will take advantage of the opportunity to study there.

She urges parents to ensure their children dedicate time to their studies and avoid distractions, as they will be far from home and supervision.

Like any society, a young person left alone in a new country would try many new things, and it is the work of a parent or guardian to make sure they have a candid talk with their child before they fly off for studies, she says.

Dr Flavis’s studies in India have surely benefitted her people in Mwanza, as CF Hospital is now a reliable healthcare facility.

But she also says the government has also benefitted, as she served as a regional pharmacist in Kibondo District, Kigoma Region, when she was just 28 years old.

She sees a bright future ahead as she also runs a family-owned island in Lake Victoria.

She is currently seeking investors to turn it into a tourist park.

She still maintains a strong tie to India.

She has fond memories of her next-door neighbours.

She says they were some of the kindest people she ever met, and so were her university professors.