Page 12 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

10 QARANC THE GAZETTE
DHE STUDENT NURSES IN MADAGASCAR
Assessing a patient at the morning clinic
Our home: the Madagascan village of Analapetsa
Student Nurses based at Birmingham’s DHE have a period of time at the end of their academic studies called ‘Consolidation and Preparation’ (CAP). CAP is designed to allow Student Nurses to consolidate their learning from the previous academic year and to take part in extracurricular activities that will develop their nursing practice. Last August, during our CAP period, Pte Kirtley and I were fortunate enough to be able to take part in a medical volunteer programme in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar.
Upon arrival in Madagascar’s capital city, Antananarivo, we were instantly struck by the obvious economic instability of the country. The lack of general infrastructure was quite shocking, roads comprised of nothing more than a dirt track and it was routine to see young children without clothing, begging in the streets. After a couple of nights in the capital we took a flight down to the South East. Fort Dauphin seemed a world away from the hustle and bustle of Antananarivo. The tropical seaside town of Fort Dauphin is built up around a central market where farmers walk for hours every day to sell their home-grown produce for little more than a few pounds. After meeting our local Malagasy guide and packing our geriatric 4WD with enough food to feed the entire British Army, we were off to the ‘Spiny Forest’ where we would spend 10 days working within a rural medical centre.
After several hours of driving on an unpaved ‘road’ with potholes big enough to engulf the entire vehicle, we arrived at our new home: the village of Analapetsa. The village was home to approximately 150 people and run by the village mayor (and his two wives). We were surprised to learn that we were staying with the mayor’s second wife and although,