I cannot believe there is only a week and a half left in Malawi. While I will be happy to see my family again, I will be very sad to leave this place I have called home for the last two months.

Last week was super busy! Tahir and I finally were able to make a lot of progress on our PneumaShoe (an intermittent pneumatic compression device we started working on last semester with three other teammates). We were able to move our prototype along with the help of Matt and create an automatic, functioning design. I love working in the design studio and finally have experience using the laser cutter and other tools available.

The best part about working on the PneumaShoe is being able to get feedback immediately from actual surgeons and doctors that would be using the device. After making lots of changes to the PneumaShoe, we were able to walk from the Poly to Queens in order to see what the surgeons had to say about our design. It was awesome to show the surgeons how the design was able to change just within a day. Another amazing feature was being able to say that this prototype was created in Malawi using local parts along with a few parts we brought from Rice.

Tahir and I were also able to present at the morning meeting last Thursday and get feedback from medical students and surgeons. While our device is nowhere near ready to be used by patients, I am optimistic at the feedback we have received. It is one thing trying to build a device at Rice and make contacts with your client through email. It is a whole other experience being able to get responses in person and see people’s reaction when they can actually see the device working.

Getting feedback on the PneumaShoe has really motivated me to work harder and make more iterations of the design. I cannot wait to continue working on the device and see how far we can get with it.