Student midwife at Napier Uni fundraising to use my elective placement time as volunteering in Tanzania in February 2018. I will be completing several fundraising tasks;
• Race at your Pace June Challenge
• Auctioning a donated handmade wooden playhouse
• Bake Sales
• Raffles

I will be in Tanzania for a total of 4 weeks, and will be working a minimum of 30 hours per week. I will be working directly with the women of Tanzania, where there are high rates of HIV and FGM. The care I can provide will give these women a continuity of personal care that they would not normally receive as often the Tanzanian midwives are so pressed for time they cannot wholly support the women in their care, leaving many women in pain and distress. I feel that through my time in Tanzanian, I may not be able to change the ways these midwives work, but I can provide holistic woman centred care to each woman I meet and have the pleasure of delivering their babies. Therefore, my time there will mean a number of women will have higher level levels of care than they may normally receive.

I will learn new skills from the local midwives, but I shall also pass on knowledge that I have e.g. there is a huge lack of understanding of infection control and cleanliness within the hospitals in Tanzania and I feel that even if I can teach a number of midwives and staff members these new skills could help to save lives in the future.

This trip will provide me with invaluable learning experience in a developing country, working in such a contrast environment to our NHS will hugely build upon my skills and knowledge base whilst challenging my perceptions of midwifery care as a whole. The experience will benefit me both professionally and personally in developing myself into the compassionate and caring midwife I wish to be in the future.

Please read below in the comments for my full story!

I hugely appreciate all support! :-)