About two months ago we had a health center staff meeting,
where the Nurse talked about how difficult it was to deliver babies in the
middle of the night with only flashlights and candles for light. Someone (I think Chitani) said they already
had a 50W solar panel that they would give to the health center if we bought
the rest of the equipment we needed. No
problem!
Friends of Malawi is an organization of returned volunteers
and government workers from all over the world who used to work in Malawi, and they
have a lot of money. They give grants of
up to $500. We only needed about $350 to
get our solar up and running, and thankfully, they approved my grant I sent to
them that said as much! Once they sent
the money, Mr. Phiri and I wasted no time in going to Mzuzu to pick up our
supplies. Lights were switched on for
the first time 24 hours later! We
win! It’s the first legitimate lasting
thing I’ve done out here! I’m sure the
parents would disagree with that, but it IS really nice to have a physical manifestation
of my efforts.
If you haven’t seen the pictures on facebook yet:
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| Health Center during the day |
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| Health Center at night, pre-lights (with a camera flash) |
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| Health Center at night WITH lights! |
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| Electrician hooking us up! |
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| Day... |
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| and night! |
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| Our first patient treated under the lights! Gracious got a little excited when he heard I was taking pictures and fell over a rock running over. |
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