Kathy McPhail Joins in the Fight on Malaria with This “Voluntour” Report
“It seems for most Manitobans that summer sort of just slipped away but for me, this is a summer I will never forget. I was able to spend two weeks at the first of August with a Canadian volunteer organization called Buy-A-Net in Uganda, Africa. I could not have done so without the support of the RHA Board of Directors for my request to be out of country (and at the time they were approving my request we had no idea what level of H1N1 would be occurring) so I cannot thank them enough. As well, the support of the Senior Management team in covering for me also enabled this dream to take shape.
Buy-A-Net is an organization that was started about six years ago by a couple of nurses (Gail Fones, from Manitoba, is one of those and her lead partner from Kingston Ontario, Debra Lefebvre). They are committed to stop Malaria one village at a time with the group’s campaign of Stop the Bite, Stop Malaria.
I was one of a group of 10 volunteers on this trip and it was made even more special as I traveled with one of my daughters who was also part of this work. We worked with community leaders in areas identified by Buy-A-Net in the less fortunate areas of Kampala, a city of 1.5 million and also in a few villages in rural Uganda.
In the designated areas, our team along with local leaders registered homes one by one and assisted local trained Ugandans to provide group education sessions about Malaria, the etiology, signs, symptoms and prevention methods which include the medicated malaria net. We also monitored homes to ensure the nets were hung and being used by priority persons within the homes and community leaders evaluate the success of the Buy-A-Net projects. One net per home is distributed and yet every 30 seconds, a child dies in Uganda with Malaria. The nets are made possible by Canadians’ donations to this effort. A net costs $6 which is not much to us but is about 14,000 Ugandan shillings and far from reach for many of the Ugandans we met.
We also had the opportunity to immunize children in one of the rural villages where Buy-A-Net has a presence, visit two schools, one a rural boarding school and one within the city of Kampala. These have made a lasting impression on me personally. They have so few to no resources for the children and with our kids being able to pick up the lists of things for their new school year, I think of these children again with near to nothing, not even a lunch for their 12-hour school day!
We also visited Mulago Hospital which is a 2,000-bed facility within the city. I would love to share these learnings. Again, they seem able to achieve much with very very little. The ethical decisions that nurses and physicians face daily are so overwhelming.
Yet, in spite of many of these situations, I was awestruck by the overall spirit of happiness, warmth, and appreciation the Ugandan people shared with us. The kids are amazing and love to sing, play games with you or cuddle, just like all kids. That is the most lasting impression I will keep with me: the wonderful people and their spirit!
If you would like to read about Buy-A-Net’s work they can be found at www.buyanet.ca or I would love to take an evening and share my pictures and stories with any of you or with groups who may be interested. For me, this has been a nursing experience of a career!”
Kathy McPhail
Chief Executive Officer
Regional Health Authority – Central Manitoba Inc.