August 2020

A TRIBUTE TO MALAWIAN NURSES AND MIDWIVES

THE HEART BEAT

Dear Malawian Nurses and Midwives,

The year 2020 was declared by World Health Organization as The International year of the Nurse and Midwife. You nurses and midwives are the heartbeat of any health care system. You Malawian nurses and midwives have for decades dedicated your lives caring for the sick and well in our Health Facilities and Communities under very challenging circumstances. You nurses and midwives of Malawi as well as many in low resource setting countries are usually overworked, overwhelmed and lowly paid. You have in many cases have a very limited career progression and restricted opportunities to lead in male dominated health professions and communities. Your career is viewed as second class compared with other health care professions because it is female dominated. Yet nursing is both a science and an art. Your voice is not always heard as you are not invited to be on the table where decisions and contributions are made about your profession as well as the whole health care system. If you are invited to the table you are often not given an opportunity to choose the menu.

My heart goes to all Malawian nurses and midwives that are living and also those that have slept. A special tribute goes to you nurses and midwives on the frontline working in clinical settings and most of the time putting your lives at risk, particularly, in a time like this one when the country and the world at large is facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

My life and that of many Malawian nurses and midwifes has significantly been inspired and shaped by our nursing and midwifery, teachers, seniors, juniors, peers, as well as our own students as we pursue our professional trajectories. Growing up I was inspired by three nurses who regularly visited my parent’s home at Nkhoma Mission in Lilongwe, Malawi. I was young but enjoyed having tea in their hostel, it was clean and well organized hostel. I made up my mind at that early age that I would be a nurse. I liked their uniform too including the Nurses Cap. The three nurses who are now of age and namely: Mrs. Inna Mezalumo (Nee Vokhiwa), Mrs. Vokhiwa (Nee Manduwa) and Mrs. Kawaza (Nee Thadzi) trained at Nkhoma College of Nursing and Midwifery.

Malawi’s nursing and midwifery landscape needs to be recognized starting with education where Malawi has demonstrated leadership in the region over the decades starting with Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees and PhDs. I wish to thank you nurses and midwives that have dedicated your lives to teach students in our nursing schools with inadequate resources and challenging environment. Today I want to salute every teacher that has been involved in preparing nurses and midwives to take various positions in both public and private sectors in Malawi and beyond.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank you nurses and midwives that have dedicated your lives to be on bed side and also in community settings putting your lives at risk and many times working under extreme conditions such as overcrowding and limited resources. I surely salute you all.

I also know that some of you fellow nurses and midwives have taken leadership roles at various levels and have been our advocates for nursing and midwifery care and working conditions. Sometimes you have taken risks in order to do so. Although the results may not have always been positive, you deserve to be thanked.

Today I will also want to pay tribute to nurses and midwives that have fallen and under sleeping including those that have retired. You all are great women and men who made enormous contribution to the health care system in Malawi and beyond

I would be failing in my duty if I do not recognize the role Government, Development Partners, Public and Private Institutions for having played a critical role in developing our noble profession. They have been our true partners and we need to thank them.

I plead with them to recognize nursing and midwifery in all their endeavors including inviting you nurses and midwives on the table and when they are on that table you should be allowed to choose a menu. We, Nurses and midwives are the heart beat of any health care system and we deserve to be supported.

You will agree with me my colleagues that it is a privilege for every nurse and midwife to serve patients, clients, women, men, children, their families. It is a great honour to be given space and an opportunity in the caring field and I believe we are coworkers with Jesus Christ.

I am indebted to you all nursing and midwifery leaders, teachers, practitioners for your untiring contribution to the development of nursing and midwifery profession in Malawi, Africa and Globally. Today, we all can celebrate your lives because you have made enormous contributions to the people of Malawi many of whom do not have a voice. You deserve the gratitude and recognition. You may never be fully paid for what you have done and are doing. You may never be rewarded for the contribution you have made to mankind and particularly the people of Malawi and beyond but may God richly bless and remember you. Although your stories may never be told, you are my heroes. You are Malawi’s heroes. You are Africa’s heroes. You are Global heroes.

Finally, to all nurses and midwives of Malawi I implore you to continue dedicating your lives to serving Malawians with dignity and compassion. When everything is said and done, What will people say about you?, What will people say about your nursing and midwifery care? and What will people say about the impact you made in people’s lives in Malawi, Africa and beyond? What legacy will you leave?

My prayer for you all Malawian nurses and midwives is that God should remember and bless you.

Yours sincerely in the noble services.

ADDRESS MAUAKOWA MALATA (FAAN, PhD,)