The Club says Farewell to Christina

Christina Mbiza

On Thursday 20^th August, the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club held a special dinner in the Dunblane New Golf Club to bid farewell to Christina Mbiza. Christina, who is from Malawi, has been studying for an MSc in Health Research at the University of Stirling for the past year.

The financial support for this was provided jointly by a Global Grant from Rotary International and by the Scottish Rotary District 1010, with the Rotary Club of Limbe in Malawi acting as the facilitating Partner Club.

The application process for the Global Grant was led by Mary Fraser, the current President of the local Rotary Club, with support from Helen Cheyne, Professor of Midwifery in the University of Stirling, and fellow Rotarians, Audrey Cooper, Jim Gardner and Gordon Robb.

So what drew Christina to northern climes? She recognized that, through the Global Grant, she would benefit from research in the University of Stirling, examining ways of reducing maternal deaths occurring through post-natal infection. When Christina resumes her post as Nursing Officer in the largest maternity unit in Malawi, she plans to instigate the development of continued research into post-natal sepsis with the goal of reducing its occurrence significantly.  This is particularly crucial as Malawi has one of the worst incidences of maternal deaths in the world.

To take up the scholarship, Christina had to resign from the prestigious post of Vice President of the Association of Malawi Midwives and leave her post as Nursing Officer

One of the challenges Christina had to endure during the past twelve months was coping with darkness in winter which lasted from around 4.00pm until almost 9.00am. While the darkness may have faded each day, the persistent cold of the Scottish winter lurked round every corner, whipped up by winds which carried bitter unrelenting rain.

Conversely, with only a few hours of darkness in mid-summer months, she found it difficult to get to sleep, and, when she did, a chorus of enthusiastic birds encouraged her to welcome the dawn with them.

She also had some difficult encounters with ‘Scottish English’, and had to adapt to food which was unrecognizable and, often to her, unpalatable.

But beyond all else, the greatest sacrifice she made in coming to the University of Stirling was to leave her family for a full year: her husband, together with a little girl just eight years old, a son of sixteen in an important exam year, and student daughter of nineteen.

While working hard to cope with all these difficulties, Christina had to study for exams, submit assignments and write a major dissertation.

Christina learned last week that she has been successful in her studies and she will be awarded an MSc in the University’s autumn graduation ceremony. She confided that failing was never an option – the many major sacrifices she made, particularly, being parted from her family for a year, had to be worthwhile.

On saying farewell, President Mary congratulated Christina on a very successful outcome of her scholarship. She continued by saying:

“We are all immensely proud of your achievement, especially as you have held the first Rotary Global Scholarship to be awarded to our Club. We admire your determination and persistence in completing your course, and we wish you every success in your future in Malawi.”

During the year Christina spent in Scotland, Club members have welcomed Christina into their homes. President Mary thanked those involved for demonstrating the warmth of Scottish hospitality.

Responding, Christina said that she was deeply grateful for the opportunity which she had had to benefit from her research in the University.  The increased knowledge she had gained would be vital in improving standards of maternal care in Malawi.  None of this would have been possible without the support of Rotary.  She particularly thanked the members of the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club who had done so much to help and support her in every way.

However, she said, there is a Malawi proverb which says ‘No matter how sweet a foreign country may be, home is home’. In only a matter of days, Christina will be able to prove the proverb when she is able to hug her husband and each of her children in turn.