The first week is over and I survived! Just about! We had a very busy week, meeting all the management of the hospitals, nursing council and meeting the staff on the maternity unit and NICU.

The first few days were quite difficult as we weren’t always made to feel welcome by the staff, but this is to be understood, we are strangers coming into their work environment, and wanting to change their practice. Once they saw us a few times, and understood why we are there, they warmed up to us and actually asked us to do some training with them as well as sharing their experiences. Our project is more based on supporting the clinics in the smaller towns, however it would be nice to spend some time with the staff at the hospitals.

We spent time preparing our assessment paperwork for starting at the clinics in the next week. I have worked in Zambian hospitals before, but not in the clinics, so I’m really looking forward to starting.

We have also had quite a bit of stress trying to settle into the community and the Zambian way of life. We are getting a lot of unwanted attention, which makes going out daunting. However, we did manage to have a nice evening at the weekend with our neighbour. It’s so important to feel part of the community when coming to work somewhere for a long period of time like 6 months. We have also realised that coping mechanisms we use in the UK may not be possible here, for example, going for a relaxing walk or run. So we need to find new ways to help manage our stress levels. We plan on trying a gym next week!