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2 ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015 Editorial Marking exam papers, a Christmas party before the students leave for home and an end of the year staff retreat are the things on my mind as we come to the end of another prolific year. The ICMDA Institute is well and thriving and we are grateful for Gods favour all through the year. The staff have all worked hard to teach and support the students. Their varied personalities only adds to the rich mosaic and provide the students with a truly International and Christian studying environment. The students also have come a long way on their journey to becoming health professionals and they are in many ways the heroes and heroines of our story. It is really their story and we are privileged to help them along their path. In this edition of the Lighthouse we continue to share with you their stories and also to profile some of our staff members and volunteers. The primary requirement for working with young people and students (even the older ones) is “tough love”. They all have their mood swings, good days and bad days. They often feel the need to complain about most things. Any form of discipline is often resented and yet as their teachers and educational facilitators we are often called to push them on, rescue them from drowning in self-pity, yet build them in confidence and make them increasing self-reliant. The other real development challenge is to make them authentic learners and promote their God given talents. Can our education be transformative? Yes but we constantly need to be reminded in the midst of our busy school life that ultimately we are there to be conduits of Gods mercy, hope and love to the nation of South Sudan. Having come to the end of another semester, most of the previous month was spent preparing for the end of semester exams - completing the portions, compiling the student’s internal assessments, preparing exam papers and practical tests. Earlier in October Shalini and I took a holiday and travelled to India to meet our family and attended the Students Missions Conference (Shiloh 2015) at Christian Medical College Vellore. I also had cataract surgery during this period. This was possible because Dr. Bertha Rathinam, Professor and Head of Department of Anatomy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, India graciously volunteered to teach for a month covering for us during the period that we were away. We also had Dr. Stephen Madgwick a retired GP from the UK visit us for 10 days and help the clinical officer students with their revisions. Most of the students presented their learnings from their external postings in Butabika National Mental Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kitgum, St. Mary’s Hospital, Lachor and the community posting in Gulu and Amuru in North Uganda. November 26th was an important day on our calendar when both the staff and the students met for a day of prayer for the future of the Institute and our immediate needs. We called this a Global Prayer day requesting all our partners from around the world to join us for a time of prayer. As we celebrate Christmas we primarily pray for peace in South Sudan. A country that still boasts of the largest pastoral communities – the cattle keepers of the world. We are reminded of the message of good tidings and peace that the angel brought to the shepherds in the Palestine hills. We look forward to the New Year 2016 spurred by the Latin quote – “per aspera ad astra” or through difficulties to the stars. Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Anil Cherian
3 ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 December 2015 Educational Postings Midwifery Students: Were for 3 weeks in October posted to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kitgum Northern Uganda in the maternity wards where they had community mobilization and health education, provided family planning services, providing antenatal care and caring for, and delivering women in labour . Nursing Students: Had two clinical postings, one in Butabiika National Referral Mental Hospital where they spent a month caring for mentally sick patients as well as assessing and diagnosing mental health conditions. They also spent two weeks in some of the wards and the ophthalmology unit at Mengo Hospital. Clinical Officers: Also had two clinical postings at Butabiika National Referral Mental Hospital, Kampala as well as in the different wards at Mengo Hospital such as the pediatrician ward, the operating theatres and the general male and female wards. Midwives-St Joseph’s Hospital Nursing Students COs in Mengo Hospital Wards Student Profile : Tuor Gai Mabir Is from Bor, Jonglei state South Sudan. He is a 2nd year student studying Nursing and was in August sworn in as the new Guild President 2015-2016. As The Guild President, he says his main focus is on his fellow the students “We know we are in a different land so it is my responsibility to keep reminding the students of that and advice them on how best to conduct themselves, also every month I meet with all students, find out if there are any issues and try to solve them .” The Guild body has about 13 guild members with ministries/posts such as nutrition, health, sports, housing, finance, class representatives among others. He says the guild works well with the administration and that most they have the same mission which is to make the institution successful, where there are some activities or events, that the guild can not do on their own the administration comes in and helps. Commenting on the general welfare of students and academics, Tuor Gai says academically, the courses they are studying are so connected to human beings and life, and coming from south Sudan which is in many places traumatized by the crisis, it is the students responsibility to work hard that such trauma will come to an end if they are all committed, there will be a change. So, he advises the students, and they get together to talk about the responsibility they have to make the change to their country. He therefore calls upon the students to make good use of this chance by being actively involved in any of the activities and in classes and give their best. He further adds on that though courses can be challenging most of the time, he and his fellow students are not giving up, they try as hard as they can to carry on. The other challenge he talks about is being foreign land but so far he says they have adapted. Tuor Gai hopes that in his time as the Guild President ,he will be to, along with his ministers, to see to it that there is eventually a guild office, with all the needed materials for documentation so that their work may get much easier.
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