Barbara Jimu

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Barbara has worked as a Nurse and Midwife for 15 years in Mission Hospitals, Private facilities, and Non-Governmental organisations. Barbara also works as a Sexual and Reproductive Health provider, and, having worked with rural communities around Nkope for many years, is invaluable to the Naturally Africa Foundation as the Medical Project Coordinator.

Her duties include providing health-care support to people in the Nkope catchment area and giving first aid treatment in case of emergencies. Managing wound clinics, providing psychological, physical, emotional support as well as health education to HIV patients and training the home-based care volunteer members who provide support to palliative patients are also part of Barbara’s daily role.

What is your favorite travel memory?

I enjoy travel but my first time trip to South Africa was amazing. Everything in South Africa seemed so different from my country, Malawi. The environment, food, and language were all very different and the time I went on a shopping trip was really something else that I still remember well to this day!

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I have grown so fast by the look of things! I have built and gained so much trust from the people around the community. Many people prefer to be treated by me rather and my team, than to go to the hospital!

Seeing people getting better after taking care of their wounds makes me feel proud. The repeated visits and referrals by our clients prove to me that we are doing a great service.

The knowledge that has been imparted to people giving care in the community and seeing it being used properly is something we should all be proud of as a team.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

I am immensely proud of all of our medical volunteers here in Malawi and there are so many amazing stories I could share. However, one that makes me smile is that of my medical return student who was awarded to go for her Ph.D., after a presentation of her thesis which included what she did here as a volunteer with us on our Medical Project.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

We have some amazing projects that all help address a need within the community. However, if I had to pick one, I would go for the Medical Project because it has always been my passion to look after sick people, help them socially, mentally, physically as well as psychologically. Seeing them getting better after receiving my care and treatment makes me feel proud and happy.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

Provision of free and good services to the community ranging from education, medical and agricultural support. It's a LIFE-CHANGER to many.

The most memorable and proud moment for me is when we had a patient who was bitten a crocodile. He had a very big wound that covered almost ¾ of his hand. Seeing the wound healed completely after a month also made me feel very proud of my company and the work we do here in Malawi.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

For me, I believe there isn't just one factor in being a successful volunteer company!

We all work together to create success, but also we work hard to make sure our projects are sustainable. We can't just sit back after a success: we have to strive to develop and move to the next one! We have a hard-working team, availability of resources and we are volunteer friendly - these are all factors that I attribute to our ongoing success.