End Of March
on Rachael's VSO experience (Malawi), 27/Mar/2012 09:06, 34 days ago
OK so I completed the preceptorship training at the end of February and after a bit of confusion with VSO we both came back to Lilongwe and had to move into the VSO guest house. Now personally I think when you say guest house people imagine it's like a hotel, believe me it is nothing like a hotel. It is basically a four bedroom house, albeit a very big four bedroom house. One room was given to a new volunteer to stay in as she is only doing a 3 month placement, the room is very large and is separate from the rest of the house. It also has a bathroom a shower room and a toilet. In the past when volunteers have stayed their they have locked their bedroom door but left the bathrooms open. This is because the other side of the house has three bedrooms (although can sleep about 12 people!) and has one toilet and one bath with a dodgy shower attachment. Unfortunately for some reason when the volunteer moved in VSO agreed she could keep the whole part of the house locked so she does. This can often mean there can be up to 7 people in the other side sharing all the facilities. There is just a standard cooker which can be a nightmare when there are more than 2 of us, you end up fighting over pots and space on the hob, even worse is sometimes having to wash up after other people so you can cook your own food. I've been given a little room with two beds but it's nice enough, I'll be staying here until the house at the college of nursing is ready. Originally they said it would take until June but the principal is keen for me to get moved in as soon as possible as I have to travel to get to the hospital and it isn't ideal as there are always fuel problems in Malawi.Anyway after we'd been here 4 days VSO called me into the office for a meeting and basically said Nick isn't allowed to stay in the guest house with me as he isn't a VSO volunteer so they don't know him and they can't afford to potentially put the other volunteers at risk. So Nick had to go back down to Blantyre to stay with his brother, he tried to contact some family in Lilongwe but no-one seemed able to help him, his only other option was going back to his village but it's not so easy to travel so we felt Blantyre was the better option although more expensive. So we've been living apart for about a month now, it's definitely not ideal in fact the only benefit really is it means when we see each other every fortnight we are really making the most of our time together. It does unfortunately mean we are spending a lot more money as he's having to give his brother some money and help out with food and stuff. But it won't be for too much longer we've done 1 month and the college are hoping to have the house ready now by May. Nick was really sad to have to go to Blantyre as the day before he was offered a trial for one of the big football teams in Lilongwe (a team that would actually pay him a wage!!) so he had to miss the trial but we're hopeful that once we are settled in the new house he can get another trial and start looking at other ways he can make some money. He'd really like to buy a car and his cousin said he'd lend him the money and Nick could pay it back over a few years or pay him back when he sold the car. The cheapest car we can find is around MK700,000 which is about£3000!! I think because compared to England cars are a bit more scarce so they cost so much more. It's so hard to get anywhere in Malawi without a rich family or some kind of capital behind you.Anyway after the preceptorship training I started working at the college of Nursing. It is in many ways much nicer than it was working at Mzuzu, there are still the same problems like lack of drugs and nurses but now they aren't really my problem!! So officially I am a clinical instructor, this means that I spend most of my time on the ward or in the clinical skills lab supervising the students. I'm really enjoying that part of the job, the college is more disorganised than I'd expected. We are often still vetting exams that are going to be sat the following week and you often find the students don't have an assignment or we don't have any marking criteria ect ect. All in all it's fun but I am very glad that I had already worked on a ward in Malawi first as this meant that the paeds lecturer spent one morning on the ward with me then left me to it. It's been a very steep learning curve and it can be challenging at times but also incredibly rewarding. I was evaluating all 25 of my students who have been on the paeds ward yesterday as they are heading out to a district hospital for 2 weeks and 28 who have been in the district for 4 weeks will be coming to the central hospital. Every single one that I evaluated told me that they really appreciated how much time and effort I spent with each of them, they told me it had made a big difference to what they were able to get out of the placement, one even told me he has now decided he wants to specialise in paeds when he qualifies and believe me he will be fantastic!Anyway I think that is about all I have to tell, the new job is good I'm enjoying it but there are still some challenges.