I’ve made it in one piece! When I first arrived, I hit the ground running. The first few weeks in Myanmar were packed full of language, culture and security lessons.
The pineapple sunglasses in the photo beside may still come in useful…
Originally I was told my placement would be in a very remote area of northern Myanmar near the Indian border, where I would need to use a motorbike to get around. This has just been changed to Yangon, one of the biggest cities here where the majority of people live in extreme poverty.
I may have dragged my motorbike helmet, jacket, boots and jumpers half way around the world to now not need them, but I’m actually really pleased with the change.
It will be the first time I’ve volunteered in an urban area, so I’m curious to see the differences. Yangon has malls and luxury hotels, yet in stark contrast there are open drains full of rubbish and rats, a lack of clean drinking water and unreliable electricity.
Hello, and welcome to my blog! Firstly, a big thank you for choosing to follow my placement as I share my nursing skills with midwives in Myanmar to save babies’ lives and give pregnant women better care.
I’ve definitely got the ‘volunteering bug’; this will actually be my fourth time volunteering with VSO! After my first placement in Malawi I was hooked – there’s no better feeling than making lasting change in a community with knowledge I’ve picked up in my career as a nurse.
Photo: One of the babies I helped deliver in Malawi. Often they were born weak and under nourished, so we’d put woollen hats on them to keep them warm in their critical first days of life.
Although I am well prepared for the challenges I’ll face on my placement - like a lack of medical equipment - this is the first time I have volunteered in Myanmar. I’m really excited to live and work in a country that has opened to visitors once more after a very tough history.
