Workshop 4

Many Saturdays ago we had our fourth and final HIV/AIDs workshop. As it was our last week we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of a discussion type activity we split the large group into four groups, and then each group performed a play about HIV. We were very lucky as even though there was more initiation ceremonies happening, we had over 50 children and adolescents in attendance.

 After we split everyone into their groups, we helped them come up with ideas and then left them to rehearse.                                                            












Everyone took it very seriously, it was great to see everyone getting really into it.

One of the main actors practicing his lines.

The plays were all very different but mainly focused on the transmission of HIV, the acting was brilliant and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

 

After all the plays were performed, we put it to a vote. Everyone voted for the play they enjoyed the most, it was a very tough choice as all of them were brilliant and made everyone laugh. We were just glad we didn't have any say in who won. The winning group received a crate of fanta, the music was cranked up and we partied Malawian style one last time.

Us with Peter and some of the participants.

Last workshop......

We held our last workshop at Mulanje Mission Hospital on Saturday morning and were fortuante to have approxiamtely 50 attendees and it was a great success. We plan to blog fully on the last workshop and reflect on the experience as a whole in our final blogs.

We have now left the hospital and therefore only have very rare access to internet. Therefore, we will finish our blog on our return to the UK in 2 weeks.

Watch this space.....

Workshop 3

After two successful workshops under our belt, we were really looking forward to number three! We planned to run a debate in order to discuss issues around stigma and discrimination in relation to HIV and AIDs.

Unfortunately, our turn out for this week was very poor and we only had nine attendees. The low turn out was due to an initiation ceremony taking place in the area which most of the children and teenagers were attending.

Due to this big drop in numbers we decided to postpone the debate and we held a discussion session instead. This was also more appropriate as the children who did attend were quite young. As usual, all the children gave really mature answers to the discussion questions and despite the low turn out we were pleased with the session.

Plans are underway for the final workshop and we are confident we will have a good attendance. We will keep you posted.

Workshop 2

 On Saturday we had our second workshop. Things started well with a packed hall by 9.30! We took this as a good sign as many of the kids were the same from week one. We got started by 10 with over 60 kids in attendance, with ages ranging from six to early twenties. The topic for the days session was a continuation from the first week, HIV and AIDS. We also had a discussion about sexually transmitted infections, as they play a big role in the development of HIV. We had three activities.

Activity 1: True or False

Activity 2: Group discussion about STI

Activity 3: Create a poster

For the first activity we asked the group to close their eyes, upon hearing a statement they had to raise their hand if they thought it was true or leave it down if they thought it was false. There was a few peepers but everyone got on very well. The answers were then explained, so everyone knew the right answer by the end of the activity. One example was "Being faithful to one partner helps to reduce your risk of acquiring HIV". This is of course true.

The second activity was a discussion about different sexually transmitted infections, It is very important that everyone is aware of the signs and symptoms as having a STI increases the risk of acquiring HIV.

For the third and final activity, we split the group into ten groups, of six of more people, ensuring there was a good age range within each group. We instructed them to design a poster either about HIV or a STI, they could put anything they wanted on the poster, such as signs and symptoms, how it is acquired, how it is treated etc. They had half an hour, colourful pens, post-its and a big bit of paper. The room was full of discussion and activity, we went around giving advice and answering any questions that arose.

After everyone was finished, one member of each group presented their poster, explaining what it represented. At the end we had a vote to decide who the winning group was, with the majority deciding. we were just glad we didn't have to decide as they were all brilliant.

We are both looking forward to Saturday's workshop, which will focus on stigma and discrimination.

Workshop 1

We are so pleased to be able to blog about our first workshop. It took place on Saturday (21 July) at the youth centre within Mulanje Mission. We had planned it to run from 9-10am and had been assured we would have over 50 people attending. So, in true organised fashion, we turned up at the youth centre at half past 8 to meet the two student nurses from Mulanje Mission Nursing College - Juliana and Peter - and make final preparations etc.

By 9am we were ready to go and waited patiently for our workshop attendees. We were still waiting (although perhaps slightly less patiently) at 10am and we had a total head count of 2! However, our fellow student nurses didn't seem phased by this and sure enough at around half 10 (only an hour and a half late), the hall very quickly filled with over 50 participants. The age range was wider than we had anticipated and ranged from 7 years to late teens early twenties. Once everyone was settled we wasted no time in getting the workshop under way.

We split the larger group into two and asked these smaller groups to come up with a team name.Very quickly we had the Winners group and the Understanding group. With our groups settled and team names chosen we began the first activity.

The activities we chose aimed to encourage open discussion about HIV and AIDs topics.

Activity 1 - What is HIV and who can get it?

Activity 2 - Transmission and prevention  of HIV

Activity 3 - HIV testing

During each activity we equipped each group with pictures in order to help facilitate discussion. For example, we gave each group a selection of pictures representing various different people including a nurse, a farmer, a business man, a baby, a hospital patient etc, and asked them to discuss which of these people can contract HIV.   As well as using the pictures, we went round each group and tried to facilitate discussion by asking questions and provoking debate.

At the end of each activity, each group was asked to feedback to the larger group so that everyone could benefit from the answers the group had come up with. The feedback provided from each group was of a really high standard. Many of the participants were willing to stand up and talk in front of the group and provided really good points. A nice aspect of the workshops was with the wide age range, we found the older participants made an effort to include the younger ones and the in turn the younger children were able to gain some of the knowledge from them. 

At the end of the activities we had a quiz with a mix of questions related to HIV and some general knowledge questions. Both groups did extremely well, with the Understanding group getting 11 out of 12 and the Winners groups (appropriately named) winning with 12 out of 12. The winning team were presented with their prize of a crate of fanta and all the participants from both groups were presented with a certificate of attendance.

We finished off the first workshop in true Malawian style with some music, and of course, some dancing. 

From what we gathered everyone really enjoyed the workshop and after recovering from all the dancing, we are looking forward to round two, taking place on Saturday and we are hopeful people might only be an hour late this time!

On duty

So we are continuing our placements on the male ward and female ward at Mulanje Mission Hospital. This week was out first full week on duty. Like the other nurses we are working 7am - 5pm with an hour for lunch and a half an hour tea break. We are both feeling much more settled in our wards, getting to know the staff really well, who have taken us under their wing, and getting used to the different way of working.

There are often quiet times on the ward. In the UK, much of this time would be taken up with personal care of the patient, but as mentioned, each patient here has a guardian who is responsible for washing and feeding etc. However, things soon become very busy when somebody is admitted. On the male ward, men often only come to hospital when they are already very ill. It is a last resort for them. It means that during admission there are lots of things going on, usually a clinician is assessing them, while the nurses are carrying out malaria tests, inserting cannulas, administering IV fluids and  taking blood glucose measurements. Everyone is busy doing something and there is usually many family members in the room at the same time, so it can be difficult to work. Also, its not unusual to run out of the basic supplies such as gauze, some IV fluids, pain killers or you'll discover the piece of equipment you have spent 5 minutes looking for has run out of battery. Despite all these hurdles, the nurses together with the doctors and clinicians deliver excellent care here.

We have organised our workshops to take place at the local youth centre and we are currently waiting to hear back which students from the nursing college will be helping out. We are hoping the workshops get under way very soon.

Mulanje Mission Hospital.

We arrived in Malawi on Tuesday, after travelling since Sunday night. On Wednesday we explored the hospital and local area. The hospital is made up of several buildings, each housing a different ward, there are also out-patient, radiography and theatre buildings. The buildings all look fairly new and are nice and cool inside. The equipment is more basic, X-rays are manually developed in a dark room and there is often a shortage of supplies. Things are re-used here, where we have cardboard and plastic in the UK they have metal which is washed and re-used.

We started placement on Thursday, I am currently in the female ward and Lynsey is in the male ward. I had a quiet first shift, there was only six patients. Nursing here is different from Scotland as here patients have Guardians who are responsible for feeding and cleaning them, so there is slightly less for the nurses to do. I observed one admission, here the student nurses cannulate and have more responsibility for the patients. The language barrier is a slight issue as many of the patients do not speak English, luckily though the staff are more than happy to translate and we will always be working alongside a nurse anyway. Friday was a busier shift, I got to do two I.M injections and assisted with an emergency admission. A women came in having a severe asthma attack, the hospital currently has no inhalers or nebulizers which would be the best course of treatment, instead we used I.V medication and admitted her for further treatment and observation.

We discussed our project with the medical director who seemed very positive about it. She is going to talk to the local nursing college to hopefully team us up with some local nursing students. It is likely we will hold our workshops at the nearby secondary school, as this age group has an increasing number of cases of HIV. The students are also taught in English which is very helpful as it will be easier to lead discussions with them.

Magnus Magnusson Award

I'm never quite sure where to start...so I'll start with an introduction. My name is Rehema (or Hemy) and I will be writing this blog with my friend Lynsey. We are currently in our second year at university studying nursing, and we are about to embark on a two month nursing placement in Malawi. While we are there we are going to run a six week course of health education workshops aimed at adolescent women, focusing on HIV prevention. We choose women as they are the primary care givers and because HIV prevalence continues to increase in women, especially young ones. It was important to us that we do something while we were there to give back to the community as we will learn so much while we are there. What better way than to use our (ever expanding) nursing knowledge. We were lucky enough to win a Magnus Magnusson Award, without this these workshops may not of been possible. I've put this link in incase anyone wants to check out the brochure of this years winners: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/media/gcalwebv2/alumni/MAGNUSSON_AWARDS_2013.pdf

We are expecting this to be a very challenging experience and expect to come home different people. We wanted to set up a blog to document and share our experiences, good and bad, as we will be learning so much about a different culture and way of life that will develop our nursing and life skills. We leave in three days, it's so exciting and nerve wrecking all at once.