Today we visited the District Health Office (DHO) and attended one of the Mzimba North Emergency Operation Center (EOC) meetings. During the meeting, we learned more about the district vaccination campaign, which is one of the initiatives to increase childhood vaccination against Polio and other diseases. As part of the campaign, they educate parents on vaccination and vaccinate children under 5. The DHO is currently on phase 3 of the campaign, which we will be able to help with starting next week! During the meeting, they also addressed shortcomings from the previous phases and discussed ways to improve in the upcoming phase. Through this, we saw the role that collaboration and monitoring have on the success of public health interventions in practice! After the meeting, DHO staff trained us in how to use their monitoring and evaluation app, since we will have a chance to supervise some of their volunteer teams during phase 3!
For a late lunch, we went with Natasha to a local restaurant where we had some of the best food that we’ve eaten in Malawi so far! Natasha said it is a restaurant that a lot of locals eat at, so we could have a truly local experience. We had the chance to try Sobo, a local soda, in plum-grape flavour, and passion fruit Fanta. A new favourite lunch spot!
In the evening, we had a dumpling-making night (because sometimes, you just want a good dumpling). We even made the wrappers from scratch! We couldn’t find all the ingredients, and we didn’t have the right equipment, but overall, it was a delicious success. We even got to share some with our dorm manager, Eliza, and the security guard, so they could try some of the foods that are common in Taiwan! We had so much leftover filling, so you can bet we’ll be making dumplings again sometime soon.
Highlights:
- EOC meeting with DHO and Mzimba North team
- New favorite local lunch spot
- Dumpling making and sharing Taiwanese culture
All the photos were taken by SHANTU (Verbal consent was obtained before taking the pictures)
