aims: Explore challenges and triumphs of managing diabetes in Tanzania, • Africa, June-July 2008, while a student with the International Tanzania Study Tour, Dalhousie University, Canada; Building on experiences in The Gambia, Africa, July-September • 2006 in developing and implementing diabetes education and prevention program, the lived Gambian diabetes experience is compared, contrasted to the lived Tanzanian diabetes experience; Relate similarities and differences from the African visits to clinical • interactions as a Diabetes Case Management Coordinator in Nova Scotia, Canada, and how practice has changed as a result; Present a personal picture of the growing epidemic in Africa; • Discuss the success of community based organizations (CBOs) in • Tanzania in HIV testing, education and prevention and nutritional, financial, and spiritual support; Apply lessons learned and insights obtained from Gambian and • Tanzanian travels to personal and professional growth as a nurse and global citizen; Methods: Anecdotal, informal interviews with individuals living with • diabetes in Tanzania; Discussion with healthcare professionals about managing diabetes • in Tanzania, hospital and community, (monitoring blood glucose, using medications, adhering to a “diabetic diet”); Personal reflection, journal writing; • Literature review: managing diabetes in a resource-poor • environment; Culture immersion: language, food, social connectedness; • results: The lived experience of diabetes in Tanzania and The Gambia • is similar to lived experience in Nova Scotia, Canada, despite differences in geography, economics and culture; Diabetes is a chronic disease affecting individuals, families, and • communities because it is largely managed by diet and lifestyle, and thereby greatly influenced by culture and socioeconomics; Living in a resource-rich environment did not always ensure good • glycemic control, and likewise, reasonable glycemic control is achievable in a resource-poor environment; Support (family, healthcare team, and community) are key elements • for success in both a resource-poor and -rich environment; Discussion/conclusion: Diabetes: a chronic disease, a global epidemic. Educating, • preventing and managing diabetes in Africa impacts the world, as educating, preventing and managing AIDS in Africa impacts the world; Diabetes education centres in Tanzania are a successful model of • care for resource-poor nations to follow; Adapting AIDS CBOs to diabetes is one community-minded • strategy to prevent, educate and manage the diabetes epidemic, for resource-poor and rich environments; The world is a small place, we are all connected, and our • commonalities are greater than our differences. We are all human;