Chikondi Ngwira, a 23-year-old studying Mental Health at Zomba College of Health Sciences, has never owned a computer. Although her studies call for extensive research, typing, printing, and information available on the Internet, she must get in line to use the computers in the college library. “Sometimes I submit assignments late,” she admits. There are just too many students for the number of computers.
In a world where technology is the norm, access to the information highway is hard to reach in one of the poorest nations in Africa. Recently students have been encouraged with what can be achieved because of the laptop program that has come to the school. Through the efforts of Nolan Read, from Austin, Texas and the large number of laptops he obtained for Malawi students like Chikondi, a door has opened to the information they need to increase medical knowledge.
In Malawi 30% of the health care workers are faced with caring for 80% of the nation’s population that live in the rural areas. Some gains are slowly being seen; For instance the infant mortality rate, while still very high at 430 deaths per 100,000 births, has dropped from 700 plus deaths just a few short years ago. To reduce problems throughout the system the Malawi government is working hard to train new health care workers, but the resources are still far too few. The distribution of the laptop computers to deserving nursing students has led to increased motivation. Hard working students have information at their fingertips, and the possibility of gaining a laptop is encouraging. Chikondi observes, “Because of the computers other students are motivated to work hard. Thanks so much to the one who gave me this laptop. It will remain a unique gift to me.”
– Wilson Tembo and Richard Stephens
