Robert, one of our student midwives in Malawi, is just starting his final year of training.
We hear from Robert about how his course is going and the challenges he faces;
“We have just started our next placement and have just done an assessment in antenatal care, the results from the assessment are not yet out, but in terms of midwifery theory things are good and understandable.
As for general nursing now am doing well, though need extra hard working. On the placement assessments which we have done, I got the following grades; Theater 91%, 1st medical assessment 81%, Under 5 care 76%, Psychiatric 77%, Family planning 81%. These are the assessments that we have done so far. From these I have some experiences that are helping me for the future health worker I will be. For example I have learnt that most of the maternal deaths are because of mismanagement and lack of knowledge of some care givers of which its very bad. Becoming a mother should not mean a threat to their lives. So I hope to be well equipped with knowledge so that I will assist mothers to give birth safely.
My desire is to be equipped with more effective knowledge and to progress in this course up until the above levels, especially this midwifery, but I need some years of experience first to increase my knowledge and skills, but I will continue with this field in what ever means, that’s my desire.
CHALLENGES
Academically, challenges are minimal, just electricity problems which is now a song of Malawians, but for me with the Laptop donated to me by Maternity Worldwide I just charge it fully so that studies continue though no electricity, and that is one of the advantages of having it, with the book it is also making school life simple because I have it full time in my room, otherwise, everything is good.
As a stated some time back that am from the poorest family that is even one of the beneficiary to other donations here in Malawi, our house in my home village fell down due to floods, so I am also a basic needs provider to my parents, and paying a secondary school fees to my young brother who is now in form 3, and I have my sister’s son who is disabled and at age of going to school (Primary) but can not because of his mobility problem that needs like a wheelchair. So these sometimes give me problems psychologically though sometimes encourage me to work extra hard so that I will be the changing agent to help my family. But I make sure that these will not affect my academic progress, otherwise everything is just fine and I am enjoying studying.
Once again thank you for what you think and do to my future, and am promising to be a good health worker.“
If you would like to help us to continue training student midwives such as Robert please consider making a donation to our Muffins for Midwives campaign or to get involved and host a Muffins for Midwives event to help us raise even more money to support students such as Robert to become a midwife. 1 in 22 women die during pregnancy or childbirth, having a midwife or skilled birth attendant present is the most effective way to save lives.
