10th Year Anniversary Photo Book

Since graduating as a fellow, I have found that
SAFRI is an immense family with fellows in many
institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The critical
factor is that this creates a network who is positive
about health education and who provides support
and encouragement to fellows even if your own
institution/colleagues are less than encouraging.
Additionally, if you require help in finding resources
such as articles or wanting to collaborate on a
project there are fellow educators who have been
through the SAFRI programme so have the same
passion for health professions education and
research and think likewise. Furthermore you often
meet SAFRI colleagues at conferences and in this
way colleagues in similar workshops help gear
discussion toward practical solutions and for the
greater good. Finally, hearing about research and
accomplishments generated by fellow SAFRIans
helps to inspire projects and acts as a mentor to
inspire you toward greater achievements and to
envision how you could potentially influence your
own programme.
Mirriam Shawa
(Paray School
of Nursing,
Lesotho)
Being a
SAFRIan has
opened so
many doors for
communities of
practice for me
as an individual. SAFRI has contributed in various
ways to my professional and academic growth.
The knowledge that I amassed is forever coming
in handy in my daily performance as a leader and
colleague in my institution. Work in academia is
never without challenges and requires one to consult
other academics through communities of practice.
Having learnt about different personalities and how
they influence the way we appreciate the world, has
made interaction with colleagues in various spheres
to be very enriching.
come to my rescue whenever I need assistance
with my own studies or work stuff. I have received
a lot of support from SAFRI fellows whenever I get
stuck with my PhD research project that I am working
on. Some fellows have continuously assisted in
reviewing and critiquing my work contributing to
my support system during the lonely PhD journey.
There was one time when I was struggling with the
concepts of ‘systematic review’ and ‘integrative
review’ and unable to clearly differentiate them and
decide on one. I engaged with one SAFRI fellow in
long discussions, searching, and sharing information
about these two research designs. We shared one
article by Whittemore and Knafl (2005) which clearly
distinguished the integrative review from other review
methods. Sharing and discussing this article with
the other fellow gave me a better understand and
enabled informed decision making about the review
approach I was going to use.
Another experiences was at the time that I was
preparing to go and present my research project
proposal at the colloquium. During this time the SAFRI
fellows in my institution supported and helped me
prepare for that presentation. They agreed to be part
of the mock colloquium where I presented the project
proposal and they questioned and critiqued my work.
I had to defend my work as though I was before a
real colloquium. Their comments and suggestions
they made helped me make amendments to my
work, and boosted my confidence at the colloquium
where I successfully presented and defended my
PhD project proposal.
SAFRIans are really walking with me on my PhD
journey. Having decided to use the integrative
review I still had to find reviewers to help me in the
project. Who else could I call upon but the SAFRI
fellows to be part of the reviewers for the integrative
review. I contacted some SAFRIans for assistance
and I got two who were willing to be reviewers for
the integrative review. I have been able to request
for assistance and assist other colleagues finding
articles and sharing other materials.
At a personal level I have experienced community of
practice from SAFRIans in my institution and others
through the listserv. These colleagues have always