Soooo much has happened since my last post
and I am only two weeks in…. I have been all over the place and I am still
sticking to the plan of just taking it as it comes!! The highs and lows really
do go from one extreme to the other… I wasn’t really prepared for that. In all
of my preparation to come away I knew how important it would be to make
connections with the volunteers already in country… now I am here I realize not
only is it important it is a lifeline! I really don’t know what I would do
without them! Arriving not only into a new country but a whole new culture
alone is SCARY!!! Nothing-here works as it does in the UK people’s attitudes to
everything are so different. I am so used to having an order to doing things
that allow me to be most efficient. Those of you that know me know I am not
always the most organized person…. Compared to here I’m a control freak!!! Its
fine and I can go with it until I need to try and get something done, then it’s
frustrating. Its funny though because everything works out just fine… people
just don’t seem to get too stressed maybe I will learn a thing or two!!
One top tip that I have learned the hard
way, do not bring travellers cheques to Malawi. No where will cash them!! I
eventually managed to talk to someone (after being sent from piller to post)
that allowed me to pay them into my account… but it will take 3 weeks to
clear..grr. However my UK bank card works perfectly well here so I actually
would have been better to leave the money where it was and withdraw it, rather
then making a last minute dash to the bureau de change at the airport and being
stuck for cash week one… That was probably my moment of feeling most
vulnerable. New country, no access to money…shit! But an angel in the shape of
another volunteer came to my rescue… like I said a lifeline!! Lesson – never
travel without your debit card and never rely on traveller’s cheque!!
My meeting with the Malawi Nurses and
Midwives council was very interesting… the lady I spoke with didn’t really
understand A. that I am “just” a midwife and B. That I could be a qualified
midwife without ever doing a ventouse….. Midwives here are expected to carry
out ventouse births, breech births (yay) and there is no such thing as a forceps
birth!! After a very interesting conversation I managed to convince her that I
am indeed a qualified midwife!! She then informed me that I would be able to
complete my orientation at Nkhoma district hospital. I will spend 4 weeks
working on the maternity unit to obtain my MNMC registration.
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| My new home |
Arriving at my new home in Nkhoma was definitely
a high. It was above any expectation that I could have had. It’s a beautiful
old colonial house set up on a hill with beautiful views. I am sharing with two
other VSO volunteers who have been amazing in helping me to settle in. We have
a massive garden with an impressive vegetable patch that some previous
volunteers put a lot of hard work into, very grateful to them!! We are lucky as
we can get all of our fruit and vegetables from the garden, which makes a huge
difference when living on a volunteers allowance.
The college is also very picturesque! There
are 3 classrooms, a relatively well-stocked library and an amazing skills lab
that I cannot wait to get my hands on. Very exciting!
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| The college |
This week I spent some time getting to grips with the curriculum at the college. We currently have 75 first year students and 49 third years. We don’t have any second years due to financial problems. The students here train in both nursing and midwifery. The students that I will be teaching train for 3 years to become Nurse midwife technicians. They do two modules of midwifery theory and practice in their third year. I have learned that these students obtain a certificate upon passing that is only recognized within Malawi and which doesn’t recognize the students as “professionals”. This is because Malawi as with a lot of African countries face the problem of training nurses and midwives that will go on to leave the country and work abroad. The nurse midwife technicians are then deployed to areas where it is felt they are needed.
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| A classroom |
A key focus here at the moment is on
maternal and child health. The maternal mortality rate is still very high at
675 per 100,000 births. There is currently a debate around converting the
qualification so that the students can be recognized as registered nurses/midwives,
which is a Bsc qualification. It is all very difficult to get to grips with. It
seems bizarre to me that the students train for so little time in midwifery
when it is one of the areas where the skills are most needed. I am definitely
going to have my work cut out!
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| The library |
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| The conference |
It was at this conference that I got to
meet the other VSO health volunteers from across the country. All of who were
very welcoming. I was particularly excited the meet the only other midwife
volunteer currently in country with VSO we had a lot to discuss!! Unfortunately
though my time at the conference was cut short as the next day I was taken sick
with a very horrible bug that resulted in me being admitted to the hospital and
missing the second day of the conference… I had rather hoped my first hospital
experience would be as a health care provider rather then a patient but hey! It
was very interesting to observe the different ways things are done. I’m sure
the private clinic that I was in is not much of a comparison to where I will be
working. But it was a gentle introduction to how basic health care facilities
here are. Now I am well on the mend and preparing to start work at Nkhoma
hospital tomorrow. Where I am sure my eyes will be opened even wider!!
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