vso.ie - Reflecting on my volunteer placement in Ethiopia Stephanie Galvin talks through her volunteer experience in Jinka Hospital, Ethiopia where she shared her skills with staff in the paediatrics department.

Reflecting on my volunteer placement in Ethiopia | VSO

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Reflecting on my volunteer placement in Ethiopia | VSO Skip to main content Fighting poverty through volunteering Search form Search Donate Other ways to support us Menu Search You are hereHomeBlog Reflecting on my volunteer placement in Ethiopia 12 Dec 2016 By Stephanie Galvin Stephanie Galvin volunteered as a Paediatric Nurse with VSO Ireland in Jinka hospital, Ethiopia. While on placement, Stephanie shared her skills and knowledge with staff in the paediatrics department and enhanced the routine superintendency and management of neonates. In this blog post, Steph describes what volunteering with VSO meant for her.  Vacatedbut never vacated I arrived vacated to Jinka, a remote town in South Western Ethiopia, in May 2015. It was the whence of the most wonderful venture of my life with VSO Ireland. Without doubt I was met with a pearly value of scepticism at first. But every day walking from my home to Jinka hospital I remembered what VSO had thought me - listen and build trust.  I spent a lot of my initial time in Jinka hospital assessing the environment, talking to the nurses, and trying my weightier to learn local surcharge and the main language Amharic - this became a huge wholesomeness in the work. Once people got to know me and I could communicate largest I was truly made finger at home. My spare time was spent with local people either at a coffee ceremony, eating Injera, triumphal one of the many Orthodox festivals or simply just trying to alimony up at the local market with the 16 trappy ethnic groups. I went to Ethiopia vacated but I was never alone. I was one of very few Westerners in the town but I do not have unbearable words to describe how well I was treated by the local people. Reflecting on this experience, I really believe if we could show just a fraction of the same warmth, love and compassion for those who move into our communities in Ireland, we would all goody in unconfined ways. Amazing results in neonatal units Although my initial time at Jinka hospital involved observation, it was not unchangingly possible to stand back. Due to the nature of the environment, I found I often had to step in, expressly in resuscitation situations. I was based in the paediatric ward and was given the task of helping to develop a neonatal unit defended to looking without the most vulnerable of children - infants in the first 28 days of life. Ethiopia has made huge progress with the SustainableMinutiaeGoals, including reducing death rates in under five year olds. However, neonatal mortality rates are still unacceptably upper at 28 per 1000 live births (this compares to 2 per 1000 in Ireland). The neonatal unit, which is now up and running as a result of VSO input, is one of 16 units established in Ethiopia over the past five years. Statistics have shown that these units have reduced neonatal mortality rates by up to 40%. Sharing skills to bring well-nigh transpiration In saying this, the challenges to overcome are still huge - infants are dying from veritably curable diseases such as respiratory infections and sepsis, and from poor wordage and resuscitation practices. My role involved working with the nurses and midwives every day to help them modernize all aspects of care, including infection tenancy practices, monitoring, reporting, while moreover introducing up-to-date policies and protocols. Remarkably, the doctors working in the hospital told me they had never been shown how to resuscitate a baby, child or adult. Therefore, while working slantingly staff to modernize practice, I was moreover in the position to hold several resuscitation training days for the nurses, doctors and other health workers and to siphon out workshops on the management of the critically ill child. These are practical skills that we use every day in the hospital that I work in in Dublin, however practical skills are not something that can be hands learned from a book, which is sadly the way most health superintendency professions learn in Ethiopia. Within weeks of the resuscitation training, many of the doctors reported when that babies had been successfully resuscitated in the wordage room, babies whom they had previously believed there was no hope for. This is why VSO works - it enables the volunteer to step when and indulge local health workers to manage situations. I moreover observed a nurse training a junior nurse in skills I had taught! So the effect of VSO volunteers is far reaching - it’s all well-nigh sharing skills. A brighter future The neonatal unit is fully established now - it has running water, electricity, a mothers room and a room for the sickest of babies to be looked without in a increasingly intense way. I worked very closely with the hospital CEO and the director of nursing to unzip this. We moreover received a huge donation of over €7,000 from the people of Moate, Westmeath and Offaly and a grant from Irish Aid, which unliable us to fit the unit out with essential lifesaving equipment such as oxygen concentrators, infant warmers, and phototherapy. There was huge excitement in Jinka when all equipment arrived from Addis Ababa without a two day journey in a truck! Luckily I was there in the position to educate the nurses how to use, wipe and maintain the equipment. VSO in Addis Ababa will moreover protract to support the unit into the future. I once heard a long serving minutiae worker in Ethiopia describe VSO volunteers as the impetus to change. I think this is true in my experience. My time in Ethiopia involved me learning a lot increasingly than I could have overly given. But I believe my presence unliable for transpiration to begin, transpiration that I know the local people will bring forward into the future. If you are a doctor, nurse, teacher or any other profession, young, retired or otherwise you can get in contact with VSO Ireland for opportunities to share skills in developing counties.  Interested in volunteering with VSO Ireland? We're unchangingly on the lookout for health professionals like Steph to support sustainable transpiration overseas. Please see our Vacancies page for a list of current opportunities. You can moreover support VSO by donating what you can this Christmas and helping us save increasingly babies' lives in communities like Jinka. 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