After only a few days at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, I’m already learning the importance of patience. Things don’t always (or often) work out in the way or timing that you expect them to. Some days you spend all day in pursuit of something that doesn’t work out in the end. Some days you spend all day in pursuit of something that doesn’t work out until the last minute. Some days you spend all day in pursuit of things that fall right into your lap. I guess that’s life.

I spent the entire morning yesterday calling every number I could possibly find for every nursing or midwifery program in the southern region of the country. Not a single one of the numbers worked. When I finally got through to someone at the University of Malawi College of Medicine, the call was dropped after 5 transfers. I didn’t even know the name of the man I was talking to. Alas, I decided to start again anew in the afternoon.

Instead of calling this time, I decided to just show up at the School of Nursing and knock on some doors. It was only a few minutes before I met Ursula Kafulafula, a Malawian midwife at the School of Nursing who had studied at UPenn years ago. We chatted for a while, and within a hour, I was able to set up a meeting for Friday with the directors of the midwifery program who will be in town for a meeting before heading back to the main campus in Lilongwe. Several midwives from the School of Nursing in Blantyre will be in attendance as well.

I should’ve known, in Malawi it’s always about real interactions with people. Here, you can’t expect to just make a phone call and accomplish your goal. No, they want to see your face. They want you to be there in person to stick up for your proposal. And more than anything else, they just want to chat. While this is not as fast and efficient as scheduling a meeting in the States, it brings a different sense of accomplishment. I didn’t just schedule a meeting with the School of Nursing. I made a new friend – Ursula Kafulafula – a mother of two teenage boys, a wife of a recently deceased husband, a woman with a deep and faithful love for God, and a graduate of UPenn’s PhD nursing program. Oh, and I learned a few lessons in patience. J I’d say that makes for a pretty “accomplished” day.