On Thursday and Friday last week we were whisked off by D (an ex Pat lady who has lived in Malawi for 12 years with her family, and is deeply involved in many charities out here, including AYISE) to help out at the Mulanje Medical camp. The camp provides free medical assistance to the rural areas around the town and mountain of Mulanje. The place was absolutely packed! Crowd control was a real issue due the massive popularity of the programme.
The camp is run every year by a Hindi charity which is based in the UK. They bring out supplies of various pharmaceuticals, as well as doctors, pharmacists and other volunteers who have given up their time and money to help the Malawians who cannot afford, or cannot access medical assistance.
The camp was down a long dusty track, which must have proved problematic for some of the less mobile patients. But come they did, in their thousands! Many walked, but some were lucky / rich enough to ride in on a bike/on the back of a bike taxi.
The camp is run every year by a Hindi charity which is based in the UK. They bring out supplies of various pharmaceuticals, as well as doctors, pharmacists and other volunteers who have given up their time and money to help the Malawians who cannot afford, or cannot access medical assistance.
The camp was down a long dusty track, which must have proved problematic for some of the less mobile patients. But come they did, in their thousands! Many walked, but some were lucky / rich enough to ride in on a bike/on the back of a bike taxi.
Rach and I have no medical knowledge really, so Rach was put to work in the kitchens serving the hard working volunteer staff, and then the pharmacy, and I was sent to use my recently acquired Chichewa to help register people for dental services (this proved slightly problematic, as people saw the dentistry registration as a short cut to become fully registered, and consequently get their free lunch and clothing…slightly stressful at times!). I then also helped in the pharmacy, dividing up bottles of paracetemol, handing out clothing, restocking, basic stuff, but necessary to the smooth operation of the camp. The striking thing was how simple some of the medical issues were. Almost every ailment was addressed with multivitamins, iron, and paracetemol – malnutrition is causing major problems for a lot of people.
The Hindi charity (I’m sorry, I cannot remember the name) worked tirelessly all week, we just turned up at the end. Donations to projects of this type make a real difference to the lives of those thousands of people who can get to these annual camps, and deserve our full support.
The Hindi charity (I’m sorry, I cannot remember the name) worked tirelessly all week, we just turned up at the end. Donations to projects of this type make a real difference to the lives of those thousands of people who can get to these annual camps, and deserve our full support.
hi, do you still have contacts in malawi ?
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