Ushna’s blog - A Story About Malaria

During a school assembly at St. Michael’s Secondary School, in Malawi and in the presence of 600 students, our coordinator asked the crowd “who here has never had malaria in their life”? Not a single person raised their hand, instead there was a roar of laughter followed by astonishment when they realised that us, the visitors had never suffered from malaria.

Every person here in Malawi has a story about Malaria. A school teacher in Lilongwe told me that every day he sees his students shiver during lessons. He teaches English language in an overpopulated school with limited resources. When he watches his students shiver and shake he knows immediately that its malaria and sends them home. Next day they are back. Parents delay visiting the doctor because there is a better chance that the child will get treated for malaria if the case is serious, otherwise they might be turned away with inadequate medication. When the case worsens children take a few weeks off school to recover and then return to their studies, until the next rainy season when it all starts again.

Many accept malaria as a norm but you don’t have to search deep to see the scares the disease has left in their lives. Last year St Michael’s lost a student to malaria. Malaria had taken away the dreams of a bright and ambitious student. I met many aspiring doctors, accountants and journalists at St. Michael’s. Each student was bursting with life. They shared their beautiful plans and aspirations with me. I can’t help but think about the challenges that they ahead of the students I met and more than ever understand the need for the work of the fellows.