At Maternity Africa, learning from each other is what we do. Yesterday evening, we said goodbye to Miriam, who was with us for two months at Kivulini Maternity Centre, volunteering as a midwife from Germany. A few weeks ago, we said farewell to Celine, also a volunteer midwife who was with us from Belgium for one year.
Our Tanzanian midwifery team warmly embraced these ladies, as they all learned from each other. Miriam and Celine shared some good practice, evidence-based skills with the team, and our Tanzanian colleagues shared complementary skills on how they save lives in a low-resource setting.
Miriam and Celine also helped our intern midwives – Shabani, Oshumu and Alfred – to develop their practical skills in the labour ward, special care nursery, antenatal care unit, how to deal with obstetric emergencies and how to recognise when something goes wrong. Before leaving, Miriam described highlights of her time here: “experiencing a willingness to learn, the effort made, a commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable women, and how the interns step up to the work challenges they face.”
Although a qualified and internationally experienced midwife, Miriam is planning to return to medical school to train to become a doctor, specialising as an obstetrician / gynecologist – with a view to sharing her knowledge, skills experience and confidence in low resource settings in the future. Celine is now connected with other vulnerable and marginalised people using her skills and experience in a refugee camp.
In the photograph are midwives Saleem, Miriam and Neema. Thank you Miriam, Celine and our national team of midwives for learning from each other, making childbirth safe.
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