Visit by St. Peter’s School, Exeter
Visit by students from St. Peter’s Church of England School, Exeter to St Andrew’s Hospital, Mtunthama, Malawi, April 2006
At the beginning of our trip, we spent five days working in and around the hospital. We spent our time working in the kindergarten and feeding programme, painting murals in the reception and painting the new operating theatre. This was a special experience because not only were we helping practically but we were also in the centre of the community, meeting new people and playing with the children.
Everyone at the clinic was so welcoming – they really went out of their way to look after us and make us feel that we were doing something valuable for the hospital. In the NRU we were able to help the nurses weighing and measuring the children, mixing feeds and keeping records up to date. Some of the children were really sick and their mothers had walked for miles to bring them to the hospital, but when we started to play with them and give them toys or balloons, they became really excited and animated.
It is good to know that the decorating we did in the new Operating Theatre has helped in a small way to get this fabulous new facility completed. We heard how, at present, people have to travel 30km to Kasungu for emergency operations such as Caesarean Sections and that many patients don’t survive the trip or the wait in the government hospital. When the Operating Theatre is open, it will make a huge difference to the care that St. Andrew’s can offer.
