It’s been a little over a week since we landed in Malawi and thus far the trip has been great! Our first week of work at the Polytechnic was mainly dedicated to helping us understand the technologies that we will be working with (this includes oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, and radiant warmers) and learning about various things that might help us with our projects this summer. So far, we’ve learned about laser cutting, Arduino programming, sensors, 3D printing, and soldering.
(LED Arduino Project!)
(Key chain produced on the lasercutter!)
Hopefully all these new tools will help us get a jump start on our projects! Speaking of which, we just received our project assignments. I will be working on the PneumaShoe, a low-cost pneumatic compression device designed to prevent blood clots in bedridden patients. Over the next few weeks, our team will be collecting feedback from several hospitals and using this feedback to build a new and improved prototype.
Luckily, this week hasn’t been all work and no play. This weekend, we had the opportunity to celebrate the 23rd birthday of a fellow intern. The combination of Malawian birthday traditions and American birthday traditions made for a memorable night! The fun continued on Sunday when we climbed to the top of Michiru. The journey was difficult, but in the end, it was definitely worth it. I’m very excited to see what new adventures and challenges await us in the upcoming weeks!