Thank you for choosing to follow my volunteer adventure with VSO! Your gifts will be helping me to share my skills with midwives in Myanmar to save babies lives and give new mothers the support they need.
I have already volunteered in India a couple of times over the last few years; from providing education on health issues in communities, to caring for orphaned children, which should help me with this new placement. Now I have become a fully trained midwife I am hoping a year of sharing my skills will really help the community I will be living in. I’m so excited to start a new chapter in my life as I move away from my home city of Birmingham (and leave my dog Penny!) for the year.
I must admit though, when the VSO office offered me a placement in Myanmar I did have to research where in the world my new ‘home’ actually was! Cue a lot of googling and trawling through guidebooks. I decided it would just be easier to tell people I was going to ‘Burma’, but the more I read, the more I became inspired by the plight of this country and its people, and the journey that was taken to lead it to becoming Myanmar. I felt inspired and upon telling people where I was going and being met with a bemused look, I began to share my new found knowledge, capturing the hearts and minds of many.
When I received information on my placement, I was really shocked to hear that rural regions such as the Magway region I am working in, accounts for 87% of all neonatal deaths in the country. This is a heartbreaking fact. With more training for midwives to improve over stretched and isolated hospitals, so many lives could be saved.. I chose midwifery as a career path in the first place because I strongly believe every woman is entitled to the best care possible when giving birth, regardless of which country she is from. A big challenge though will be helping provide the best care possible without the medical equipment I would use frequently back in the UK.
With just a week to go before I leave I need to go so I can work out what on earth I need to pack – I think I’m going to need a bigger bag! I’ll make sure I am back in touch soon when I am settled into my placement and share my first impressions of my new home.
In the meantime, I’d like to say a big thank you for your support; VSO couldn’t send volunteers like me to tackle poverty without you there. Take care for now, and I really can’t wait to keep you posted on my progress!
Best wishes,
Sam