Mental preparation pales in the face of actual experience, a lesson that I have become very familiar with in my first week in Malawi. It’s a beautiful mountainous country and the people here are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. There have already been challenges from getting settled in but I, along with the other interns, are already adjusting to the tempo of the country. We couldn’t have done it ourselves, of course. Enock and Francisco, doctors at Queen Elizabeth, have done so much to help us settle in and get around the city. I’m forever thankful for the kindness and selfless nature of the people here.

During the first few days, we toured our bases of operation: the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Polytechnic Institute. At the hospital we met the Rice 360 Malawi staff and headed off to the neonatal ward. Most of the babies in the ward suffer from some sort of condition, usually being premature. Prince, a nurse working at the QE and our knowledgeable guide, gave us incredible insight into the technologies and systems of the hospital. The nursery’s system has been improving and seems to be effective, reducing the number of infant and mother deaths to less than three in that past six months. There is equipment in place that works well within their system of operations: hot cots to keep the infants warm and heaters to keep the room at ambient temperatures. But Prince also mentioned several areas that could benefit from improvement. Complicated technology (like incubators) that are given to the hospital have a hard time replacing the simplistic design of devices like hot cots (wooden boxes with switches to control the heat) because it seems too time intensive to learn the technology and incorporate it into their operations. Temperature control in the ward is difficult when there is no way of keeping the temperature constant. Staff is spread thin, taking care of over 60 babies and their mothers. I think we need to develop a deeper understanding of the hospital administration and how they truly operate. It’s only then that the ideas and prototypes we develop can become useful for the nurses and doctors.

We also went to the design studio inside the Polytechnic Institute. It truly feels like an OEDK transported to Malawi. We got to meet Francis and Andrew, the two who keep the design studio running, and took a look at our devices to make sure they survived the transport here. Thankfully our models made it through the plane ride in tact and ready to go. On Monday we will be presenting our projects to Dean DesRoches, the Rice University Dean of Engineering.

Thankfully we’ve also done fun activities and seen some of the sights in Malawi. We visited Satemwa Tea and Coffee Estate to taste different types of teas. We’ve also found amazing food for a very affordable price ($2 for lunch!) and tried nsima, a staple dish here in Malawi made from maize flour.