December 2011

 

 

Greetings                                                               

Hello to all and a very sincere thank you for your continuing support to the Women of Malawi Charity.  Our website has been quiet for sometime now, but we have been working hard behind the scenes and now have some very exciting updates to share with you.

 

Obstetrician in training

Dr.Ibe (medical doctor, who has worked in Bwaila Hospital and wished to train as an Obstetrician) has now moved to Capetown to commence his training. This will involve up to five years study, after which he will return to Malawi to pass on his skills and expertise.  As you know, qualified Obstetricians are so badly needed there and the charity has committed to help him financially. 

 

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Maternal mortality study

Elled, one of the Clinical Officers in Bwaila Hospital, Lilongwe, has commenced a study on the reasons why women die in childbirth which previously, I, as an outsider, had been unable to obtain permission for.  It is more acceptable to have a local Malawian carry out the work and I am delighted to see that this study is finally being undertaken.

The charity has contributed 1,500 euro to this project.  

 

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New Generator

Power cuts and interruptions are unfortunately a daily occurrence and to assist with this a new generator has been purchased for Mua Mission Hospital, which presently is on its way from South Africa and should be up and running by end of December. This is a very expensive piece of equipment and was very kindly donated by great friends of the Women of Malawi Charity  -  Richard Quirke and Brian O’Connell, with the generous help and assistance of Len Lieberum, acting for them in S. Africa. Thankfully with this new generator there will be no more power cuts at Mua !!

*****     Update  -  see letter below   ******

 

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New anaesthetic machine

The anaesthetic machine at Mua Mission Hospital broke down beyond repair last month, so all surgery had to cease. We have now bought a machine which was designed for African conditions and it is presently on its way to the hospital from the UK.

 

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Medical supplies

We plan to send out a 40 foot container with hospital supplies and many donated pieces of hospital equipment very soon. Its departure has been delayed by (eventually successful) negotiations with Malawian customs to avoid paying import duty on the load.  A very generous donation for half the transport charge by Mr. Nicholas Cushnahan has cushioned that cost for us.

 

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Travel to Malawi

I have not been to Malawi this year due to political unrest in the country which is very saddening.  There is also a severe petrol shortage which makes it next to impossible to travel around.

 

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Heartfelt thanks

I wish to thank the Mua Committee both in Ireland and in Mua - Anne Creedon, Maura O’Sullivan and Tony Quinlan, for their wonderful work all year round and to Montfort Chiwaya, CEO of The Mission Hospital in Mua for all his excellent care and help with our projects.  As ever, Paul Tyrrell and CRS continue to be great supporters. It is always a pleasure and heart warming to deal with such dedicated people.

 

Finally I would like to thank all those who donated and helped throughout 2011.  We will continue to do simple specific projects which although small in themselves mean so much to those who receive our help.

 

Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone of you a happy and joyful Christmas and peaceful New Year.

 

Valerie Donnelly

Founder of Women of Malawi.

www.womenofmalawi.org 

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Extract from email from Montfort Chiwaya, CEO, Mua Hospital received 2^nd December 2011.

Dear Dr Valerie,

On behalf of the Mua Management team, the Board of Governors , the entire community Mua Hospital and on my own behalf I write to acknowledge the receipt of the stand-by-Generator machine and register our gratitude on the same.

There has been loss of life due to Malawi's persistent black-out but with the advent of this stand-by-Generator the problem will be fully sorted out.

We received the generator on 30th November. It was like the Moon has touched the Earth, because people were very, very happy. On 1st December, I invited the Board Chairman to receive the Generator. Coincidentally we had Advisory Committee with Chiefs from the Village who asked me to have their picture taken with the Generator to show that they are happy with the donation.

People are really very happy for what Dr Valerie Donnelly Malawi Charity is doing for Mua Hospital. May the Lord, God Bless you abundantly all.


Find attached the pictures.

Regards
Montfort

 Within seconds of boarding the first plane home from Malawi, we are always presented with a feeling of déjà-vu. Through and through we know that this trip, like most others, was simply too short. Of course we now have a million hours, through a gauntlet of travel, to mull it over, and this is how it went…

    Every trip is demanding but educating, expensive yet crucial and this past trip was of no exception. We are however extremely pleased to announce that we had very special company. On this trip we were joined by renowned hospital architect Brian O’Connell (O’Connell Mahon Architects), senior architect Kate O’Hea and senior technician Patrick Tyrell of CRS Cold Mobile Storage. This team of experts donated their time, expertise and funded their travel out of their own pockets.

    Our plan usually involves us driving ourselves to maximize cost efficiency. However due to a country wide fuel shortage we decided to hire a car and driver to give us a better option if we needed to purchase fuel off the grid. Seeing hundreds of cars in grid locked line ups definitely soothed our decision, not to mention that filling stations were instructed only to dispense up to 12€ per vehicle.

    Quickly after realizing that Kate’s luggage would never come, we decided to visit a local shop to get her sorted before we hit the road. With Lilongwe being a fashion powerhouse, Kate was able to address her immediate needs. Mua Hospital was our first destination, and fortunately the gorgeous vistas of the Golomoti Pass stood in our way. It is about a two-hour drive, but I suggest you do it in four. Some of the most magical and breathtaking turns in all of Malawi.

    On every trip to Malawi we seem to plan an itinerary that would be hard pressed to complete even in the West. Remembering that saying hello in Africa can sometimes take an hour, we did our best to liaise our new friends with our old friends at the Mua Hospital.  The team hit the ground running after a wonderful greeting and began their work, as we continued off to Blantyre. The meeting in Blantyre was a preliminary session to attract international medical associations to use the facilities being brought to the Mua Hospital Project. We are entertaining as many ideas as possible to foresee a maximum impact this project could have on the people.

    Blantyre, another four-hour drive, was again littered by queues at the petrol stations and police spot checks. Now being Muzungus (foreigners) we are sometimes targeted by these checks, and have spent hours’ proving every required element was present and legitimate. Sometimes the items include a functional fire extinguisher or road hazard triangles. This time the reflector tape on our bumper was not long enough. 1000 Kwacha later (about 5€), and a half hour argument to be given a receipt (that our driver needs to dispute the charge) we were back on the road.

    The darkness had descended before our day on the road had finished, but our driver Kondwani entertained us with stories of the Gule Wamkulu, the traditional secret society of dancers in Malawi.  With a stroke of luck as we neared our return destination at Mua, we actually saw a member chasing some villagers through a trading market. Amazing.

    The next day we continued the work at Mua with our team, and had a thorough meeting with each party to be involved in achieving the project. With all measurements, photos and details recorded we had one last meeting in Mua. A soccer game with the local children and their homemade ball, assembled from twine and plastic bags. We once gave them a brand new ball, but they sell it at the market for food and continue to play the game with the type of ball they know.

    What must have been a whirlwind trip for Brian, Kate and Patrick, as they were already travelling home and refining the plans while we headed to Salima to visit the Ndi Moyo Palliative care centre.  Our friend and founder of the centre, Lucy Finch, invited us on a home visit where we met Patuma. Patuma is a single mother to eight children, three of her own and five from her sister who has passed away. She also suffers from Kaposi’s sarcoma, a terminal skin cancer. We discovered her house was destroyed during the rains last year and has since moved her entire family into her mother’s one room hut. We found that she had the necessary materials to fix the house but no funds for labour. So the 50€ needed was easy to donate, and it was the least we could offer after being invited into her home.

    The last day and stop of this trip was to visit the Women of Mchinji or the Tapela AIDS Fighters. Mchinji is just over an hours drive from Lilongwe so we chanced not needing a driver for any fuel needs. However just getting up to speed on the road, we break down. Stuck in the entrance of a two lane round about, we were forced to jump start reverse and back out of trouble. We then found some nice young fellows lounging under a near by tree to give us a push. With our helpers we managed to get the truck into second gear and limped back to base camp. As soon as we tracked down a borrowed car we find ourselves right back on schedule, African schedule, and arrive four hours late.

    Unfortunately this visit turned out to be a rather hasty one, as we needed to be on the road before dark. The work however was well under way in providing the Women with a roof to their chicken coop. Their idea is to start an egg farm to fund all the actions they undertake in caring for all the orphans and people living with AIDS in their area. All indications were pointing towards a completion date before the rainy season arrives, very good news.

To see new details on all projects please watch for updates on the projects page.

On behalf of all our friends in need, thank you for all your generosity and support.

Women of Malawi Charity

My name is Valerie Donnelly. I am a practicing Obstetrician in Mount Carmel Hospital, Churchtown, Dublin 14 since 2000 and am presently the Lead Clinician. I qualified in 1985 from the Royal College of Surgeons and trained in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Ireland and Australia.

I first went to Malawi in November 2007 to help give a course in Emergency Obstetrics with the Irish College of Anaesthetists to Clinical Officers. I visited a local hospital and was so overwhelmed by the poor facilities, lack of supplies and of trained staff, the workload of the doctors and conditions of the mothers. Even in the hospital many of the babies died and the maternal mortality was totally unacceptable. The mothers are sick with anaemia, malaria, HIV/AIDS and general malnutrition.

Infant mortality, within the hospital, is 10%. Maternal mortality, within the hospital, is 1 in 2000. This compares to a ratio of 1 in 100,000 in Ireland. UNICEF publishes a figure of Lifetime risk of Maternal Death of 1:18. The principle cause of maternal death is haemorrhage. Many of the women have severe anaemia due to a lack of iron in the diet. The provision of iron to pregnant women would have significant impact on the maternal mortality rate. 

I returned in July 2008 to work at the hospital for a month as a volunteer. I brought supplies of sutures and drugs which I knew to be lacking. I transported these by DHL while I was there so that I could ensure they got to the right place.

In November 2008 I went back to the hospital and brought 27 boxes of supplies, theatre gowns, ventouse cups, sutures, drugs, drapes etc., Many of these items were donated to me and I organised pick up and distribution through the hospital agent, including an Ultrasound scanning machine. While working at the hospital I interviewed and gathered information on more than 500 women. I began to identify some of the most important issues were knowledge about pregnancy and the general wellbeing of the pregnant women. Most of the women were poorly educated and unaware when they should come to the hospital and many left their visit too late. Also many of the women were severely anaemic which was the major contributor to their problems and, I believe, to the deaths of some of them. In addition a lack of simple medical supplies lead to poor outcomes of routine medical procedures.

In January 2009 I returned to give another teaching programme with the Irish College of Anaesthetists. In March 2009 I will visit again to set up a project to get information to the women in the villages. I am also looking to coordinate the delivery of an operating theatre to a district hospital. The operating theatre is the gift of an Irish entrepreneur.

On behalf of the Women of Malawi I thank you for your support.

Valerie Donnelly
February 2009

Mua Theatre

This project is going very well. We have the containers and the transport has been arranged with a Malawian transport company.

We are now actively fundraising to equip this theatre. The operating table, lights and steriliser are very expensive but I am adamant that we send down the best equipment which is appropriate for the African climate and which requires little maintanence.

Combating anaemia in pregnant women.

I have been asked by the Department of Reproductive Health in Malawi to conduct a survey to find out about women's attitudes to taking iron in pregnancy  and about the barriers they experience to receiving antenatal care. We have already interviewed 200 women and hope to have 500 or more by the New Year. It will give us a very good basis to develop a programme which is entirely appropriate for the pregnant women in the Lilongwe district.

Women of Mchinji

The women use their bicycles that we donated all the time and are delighted with them. They visit remote villages bringing messages about HIV/AIDS, domestic violence and care of oneself in pregnancy.

New maternity hospital - Bwaila

The new maternity hospital built by the Rose Project is open and it is wonderful. The women now have decent surroundings to have their babies in private and with dignity. The next task is to provide well trained personnel to work there.  The Rose Project and the Women of Malawi Charity together are devising a training plan for this.

The Charity has very kindly been given the contents of a pharmacy which is closing down in Dublin.  The owner, Michael Quinn, Corrigan's Chemists, rather than selling the stock, has donated it to the charity. Such wonderful generosity  is very much appreciated. We have collected the stock and have it in storage and will arrange transport of it in December. We have also been very generously helped by O'Leary Medical with sutures and essential apparatus for the labour ward.

The labour ward at Bwaila has requested that we would commit to sending down a small amount of drugs, vacuum cups and gloves, none of which are available in Malawi, on a monthly basis for a period of time.  We plan to set this up soon as possible as it will greatly help the care of pregnant women at the hospital.

Thank you for your continued support and for your generosity. We are using every penny of the donated money to directly help these impoverished women who have so little and only through charity can they have any hope of Living through childbirth.