Caley to Malawi 2016

I am extremely excited to be going to Lilongwe in Malawi along side 5 other Learning disability Nursing students in may 2016. We aim to develop new nursing skills and augment our exsisting skills to provide outstanding healthcare to the people of Malawi. Our project is about raising awareness about people with physical and learning disabilities within a developing country to where stigma and prejudice are paramount. The health care system in Malawi is more robust in comparison to the healthcare system here in the UK, we hope to liaise with the students in Malawi so that we can all build upon our nursing skills for our developing career as Learning Disability Nurses.

Last year a group of 5 Learning Disability nursing students from Glasgow Caledonian set off for Malawi , little did they know about how much of a great learning experience it would be. This helped to create and build upon the link we now have with the University of Malawi and Kamuzu College of Nursing.

As a group we have 3 Main objectives

Main three objectives
1. People living and experiencing physical and learning disabilities often face discrimination and vulnerability. In Africa fewer than 10% if disabled children are in education. The SOS primary school in Lilongwe provide education to all children despite their abilities, integrating all children into the education system. During our time away we wish to spend time at this school teaching some lessons on health as donating books and equipment to ensure the children can achieve the best from their education.
2. Our second objective is to improve our nursing skills. We will be working in a variety of tough situations which will enable us to progress in our nursing development. We will be challenged as we work in difficult situations that will enable us to build upon our existing skills and develop further care and compassion towards the people we support.
3. We will work with nurses, lecturers and student nurses at the University of Malawi, Kamuzu College of Nursing. We aim to improve understanding of learning disabilities and ways to support people to be as independent as possible.

*Donations will be used to buy supplies for local school, and also to provide some rehabilitation sessions for children that may not otherwise have had the opportunity. A small amount of the money I raise will help towards my immunisations and Malaria tablets, as most of you know I have quiet a weak immune system.

Not only am I extremely excited about this experience I am also feeling nervous as I have never done anything like this before. I am sure as a group we will have happy times, sad times, lots of laughter, tears and hopefully lots of pictures to keep you all updated on the 6 week journey that we face in Malawi. Any questions feel free to ask and thanks in advance for the donations.

Larissa Crowe- Caley to Malawi 2016