Submitted by Skyler Krismann on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Kenya and Tanzania sponsored by the School of Nursing…
On New Year’s day, nineteen junior and senior nursing students flew to Kenya as part of the University of Delaware’s study abroad program, with our program focusing on women’s health. We then drove to Arusha, Tanzania where we have spent the last week. In the first few days of class, we got a Swahili lesson and started learning more about healthcare here in Africa, specifically the eastern region. We all came prepared with presentations on various topics concerning women’s health in this region including HIV, substance abuse in pregnancy, postpartum depression and few a more. Before we got to work, we spent an afternoon at Shanga, which is a store run by people with disabilities who make all of their own products.
Then, starting on Tuesday, we began working in the clinics and one of the local hospitals. The first day, three peers and I went to the NICU, and got our first glimpses of the differences of healthcare between Africa and the United States. The next day, we were in the Pediatric and Postpartum Units where we were able to do vitals and assessments on all of the patients. There’s usually only one or two nurses per unit, so they usually appreciate having us there to help. Most of the nurses speak Swahili, which makes it much easier to communicate with the patients amidst the language barrier. We are continuing to rotate around different clinics and different units all gaining unique and useful experiences. Some girls have been able to perform vaginal exams, assist in deliveries, deliver placentas, along with all of the assessments we are used to doing back home. It has been really great to understand what the nurses here do, and how it differs from what we do. All nurses in Tanzania are trained to be midwives, which in the United States requires an advanced degree, so we have so much to learn from them. But we also have been teaching them, especially the Tanzanian nursing students, about newborn assessments as well as postpartum assessments.
In the afternoons, we have been going to two different women’s shelters, called Pippi House and Faraja. I have had the opportunity to go to Pippi and have absolutely loved it. We got to spend time with women and children who have been rescued from the streets of Tanzania who have been provided refuge at this shelter. Despite all the adversity they’ve faced, they are always smiling and excited to talk to us. Next week, we are supposed to provide sex education for them, since there is a huge lack of education on that topic which is certainly a cause of the population’s low pregnancy ages and high levels of HIV/AIDS. The other group will provide a pad training where they will give the women fabric and teach them how to make feminine products since they are not easily accessible here due to price and quantity.
We are all so excited to see and do more both in the clinical setting and in the actual countries themselves. Everyone we have met has been so kind, especially our guides! We have two more weeks here in Tanzania and then two in Kenya after that, and cannot wait to see what else is in store for us.
