Tabitha & Jacob’s Story: A Trip Cut Short By COVID-19
March 2020
Tabitha & Jacob have been on a Medical Volunteering trip with us, working at our medical centre.
They’ve been a joy to work with and have been involved in a wide range of activities; from helping with the birth of babies, to researching the Malaria vaccine that is offered for free to children in Kenya.
Sadly they have had to cut their trip short, having been summoned back to the UK to support efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you’d like to know more about their amazing adventure, we’d strongly encourage you to visit their blog here.
Here’s a flavour of what you can expect – reproduced by kind permission.
“Whilst working in the medical centre in Musanda we have been working on a number of research projects with a view to tackling some of the major issues in the area. In particular we have been collecting data on the malaria vaccine. This was introduced last year and is first given to children at 6 months. Whilst the vaccine is free, it is still relatively novel and therefore parents are sometimes reluctant for their children to have it. As well as working to understand why this is we were also hoping to discover more about the efficacy of the vaccination. We do not yet know for certain how good the vaccine is at preventing malaria and have therefore been gethering data on how often vaccinated children are in fact contracting malaria. So far the results look incredibly promising, however the study will need to run for another few months to gather enough data in order to make reliable conclusions. In the meantime, the main challenge has and will be promoting the vaccine and ensuring that families are aware of its existence and potential benefits – the vaccine may well be an important step towards preventing the hundreds of malaria cases we have seen in the last three weeks alone.
On the evenings where we have not been faced with torrential rains, we have been running through the countryside surrounding Musanda. This has been an ideal opportunity to see the beautiful area but we won’t be breaking any records whilst trying to adjust to the heat and altitude. We have become quite a spectacle amongst the locals, who either stare on in bewilderment or openly laugh at the running Mzungus! We are going to miss our entourage of small children who like to run every step we take with us.”
This story is listed in: Coronavirus, Fund-raiser stories, Volunteer Stories
