In this inspiring second episode of the Smart Podcast by Elitrasmart Medical Suppliers, we sit down with Prof. Loniah Mwape, a distinguished nurse and academic. She shares her incredible journey from modest beginnings to becoming a respected professor in the field of nursing.
Her story is a testament to resilience, passion, and the power of education in shaping lives and healthcare systems.
Tune in to gain wisdom, motivation, and a deeper appreciation for the nursing profession.
#SmartPodcast #ProfLoniahMwape #NursingJourney #HealthcareLeadership #Elitrasmart #Inspiration #Episode2
Her story is a testament to resilience, passion, and the power of education in shaping lives and healthcare systems.
Tune in to gain wisdom, motivation, and a deeper appreciation for the nursing profession.
#SmartPodcast #ProfLoniahMwape #NursingJourney #HealthcareLeadership #Elitrasmart #Inspiration #Episode2
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Smart Podcast, where healthcare beats hustled. Each
week we bring you inspiring stories from nurses who have
turned their clinical expertise into thriving businesses, innovative startups, and
impactful ventions. Our guests share insights, challenges and trumps of
merging compassions with commerce. Whether you're looking to elevate your
(00:23):
nursing Korea or I'm back on an entrepreneur journey, the
Smart Podcast please your go to resource for motivation and
actionable advice. Tune in and transform your passion for care
into powerful catalyst forward chain.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to our Smart podcast, and we're excited to have
you watching us. Of course, our first episode of the
Smart Podcast, we're excited to of course have our esteep guest,
Professor Lnia Marpe, to join us on a brief deep
conversation where we dive into the professional life, personal life,
(00:58):
and of course academic live. Professor pet thank you very
much for joining us, and welcome to the Smart Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thank you very much. I'm very very grateful to have
this opportunity to come and speak to the nieces that
will be able to listen to this podcast and those
that are planning to join the profession.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you very much, and they're excited of course to
watch you here on this smart podcast as we've asked
you and of course without it that Professor may of
our nieces and the audience will appreciate from this podcast
now to start with, because we also want to understand
and to know you a bit better. Let's peak it
up from knowing who Professor Donia Marbi is.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Who is she?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
How did you grow up? What kind of childhood did
you experience?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Thank you, Thank you very much. So late you have
rightly put it. My name's ape. I grew up. I say,
I grew up from a very humble background. I was
born and bred in Indollar. Those of you that have
taken the route to the copper built through Dollar to
(02:14):
kid who nowhere tow ap Year is located that I
quit my village because that's what made me who I
am today. So I grew up from there. I went
to primary school from grade one to grade five at
Mabungo Primary School within to twerp year. Later on, my
parents decided that I needed to go to the rural
(02:36):
area just to ensure that I completed my primary school.
So I was sent to a primary school alone Dolar
Kapio Road called Kashita Primary School where one of my
first cousins waked as a teacher. So I did my
grade six there and my grade survey and qualified to
go to secondary school. And I was at full secondary
(02:59):
school from one up to from four faced time when
I decided to go into bodying and ended that mayble
Shure Girls Secondary School. In there she saw and a
proud in there, she girl.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Okay, I as your experience of that boarding school arrangement,
how was it? Well?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
You know, I grew up with my parents and around
my family from grade one up to the time that
I moved now to go into boarding. I was excited
to go into boarding, but settling down at that time
was very difficult because I was just leaning not to
depend entirely on my parents and that I could begin
(03:44):
to manage my life on my own. But although the
beginning was difficult, it actually ended up being a very
very enriching experience where I began to lean my independence,
to learn how to behave, to learn what to avoid
(04:06):
and what to risk in terms of experiencing. So it
kind of created the foundation on which I built the
life that i'm beating today.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Okay, that's really interesting. So tell us something, what did
you what did your academic jalally look like after a
completing ritual.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So then when I completed grade twelve at apleshore Gel,
you know, as you are in virtuel, then you start
kind of you know, discussing and arguing or rather discovering
exactly what you want to be after grade twelve. You know,
it's surprising that the first thing that I wanted to do,
(04:52):
not knowing the career opportunities, was to be a fashion designer.
But you know, with my my jossing is actually ordinary.
So this is the time round I wonder whether I
would have made it as a fashion designer. So I
thought about fashion designing, but when I researched feather, I
(05:13):
realized that there were very few opportunities, if any, at
the time to thrive in fashion designing.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I thought, well, I think I'll be a registeredness okay,
And so it was in my mind when I was
completing RAE twelve that I needed to do registered nassing.
And you know, for some of us that grew up
in humble backgrounds, we didn't have connections, we didn't have
you know, appropriate or correct information about certain trainings how
(05:46):
you can get there. So it took my uncle who
did the mcnemy his stories in Peace, to contact my
mother in Twerpia that I needed to travel to the
Sacer for other beings. And those interviews took place at
even Homecoreye. And in those interviews it wasn't only nessy
(06:07):
that we've been interviewed, so it was all health wakers,
and you chose what you wanted to be. So, you know,
I looked at my results and I heard, you know,
we're talking all of us that way interested in doing nessy.
Gods to talk and so I ended up thinking, oh arthic.
(06:31):
On this phone, I was just I was started as
an inroadness because I didn't even know that you could
go directly into registered nessy. So I completed the phone
and I wanted to be an in roadness and then
later on I would upgrade to regist that nessy. So
I completed that phone, and on the phone, I indicated
(06:53):
that I wanted to be an enroadness, and following our discussions,
we apened that you could only start from inroadnessing and
then upgrade after you have qualified. And so when time
came for me to go in for the face to
face interview. The interviewers looked at he interviewed me, asked
(07:13):
me what motivated me to become a NISS and I
explained everything, and at the end of the interview they
asked me, looking at your results, we think that you
can go into registerednessing instead of in road nasing. That's
a difference. Are you interested? So the difference at that
(07:35):
particular time was that for in road missing programs you
only did two years and the registerednesssing you did three years.
So even when it came to waking, the registeredness was
the supervisor of an in roadness in those years. But
(07:56):
even now you could still see some of the dness
wearing a cape with a blue line in the cape,
so lother in roadnesses. That program was abolished in twenty nineteen,
so we stopped training in roadnesses in twenty nineteen. And
(08:18):
so that's how I got onto the registeredness in program.
And next thing, I received an acceptance late and it
was invest teachings because SACA Schulobness. So wow, yes, And
so that's how I started my nursing. Because I came
(08:40):
from a boarding school, I already had very good study skills,
and so when I got into the racededness in program,
I wouldn't say that it was difficult for me to
cope with the program. The first the first six months
(09:00):
is very critical and at that time, you know, people
that group of us students came from everywhere. Some of
us were interviewed at Ebilinghorn, others were interviewed from other provinces,
and so we met as they covered with different backgrounds
and some of who didn't know the amount of study
time they needed to allocate to, you know, to the
(09:24):
wake or to the studies. And so we were about
there were sixty five of us in that class. So
we filled the UTH lecture theater that but after six
months we had a third of us dropout because they
couldn't manage to pass the number of courses that they
(09:47):
needed to pass to progress to the next day. Six months,
out of the sixty that we were, five of us,
five including myself, cleared all the courses. You know where
we had one of the lecturers lying the five of
us up. So the five of us, three of us
(10:10):
were actually studying together. And you know, like shows everybody
now in class, you see this five, these five are
the ones that know why they are here. So you know,
we got we got so so motivated. And when we
(10:31):
are getting results, like when we write this and we
are getting results, so we get results for or for
our get results for my friends. And we stayed in
the same hostels, so when the hit that we are
getting results and I am, you know, one of us
is getting the results for everyone. So when you are
(10:52):
running now into the hostels with results, then they'll ask
you what's happening there. Then you're going to say, we
get yeah, So you know, meaning that we studied really hard.
During the time that I was at the School of Missing,
I learned that you actually could you could study and
(11:14):
sleep for five minutes when you are tired and wake
up fresh. So we worked really hard and settling through
the program was like, you know, as smooth as everyone
would like it to be, because we're putting quite a
lot when we expect exams. We hardly ever had any
(11:36):
social life until the exams, we're died. So that was
the School of Nessy And after graduating then I everybody
wanted to be a midwife. But during my training I
got interested in mental healthnessing and I thought, well, I
wanted to be a mental health mess. So while I
(11:58):
was waking, I sieved two admissions into the Midway Free School,
but I declined to go. But luckily enough, there was
an introduction of the Registered Mental Healthiness and program at
chinam A College, and when I heard about it, I
had to go. So I was in the second group
(12:19):
and there I graduated at best student around because that's
what I wanted to do. And because I graduated as
best students around. After having worked for a few years,
I was invited by the college site to be the
clink constrant and one of the clinical instructors for those
(12:40):
that were training as registered mental health messes. And so
I was a clink co instructor for a couple of
years and through funding from who I got a scholarship.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
So that was a part of I said, a little student, men,
or more than school, what did you do need do very?
And then we're offered to admitial for which I know
everyone has to be excited on the offered aditially NeSSI
and you declined them because you wanted to do mental
healthy So what's motivated you to do with this adminion Helocky.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
The exposure that I had during my redister nacy training
at Chinama. He was hospital. Normally, the program at that
time had, you know, gave us six weeks exposure in
terms of practice where you are located to Chinama. He
(13:35):
was hospital, and during that time I found myself feeling
at home and kind of understood what the patients were
going through, and I thought that, you know, I should
(13:56):
say that that in itself, the interaction with the student,
I mean, the interaction with the patience and interaction with
the members of staff there kind of triggered something in
me that confirmed within myself that that's the place that
I wanted to be.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
So rented at end points, not scared because you know,
I didn't really well, but a mentally nut stable. Why
if you they can be too pallid and everything.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I think that I was born a mental healthness because
nothing that happened on the world, even before I actually
trained as a mental helpness, really scared me to pursue
mental healthness. So in a way I think that I
think God made it that I should be a mental helpness.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
That's right, quite quite quite quite very interesting. And I
think the war is progression in terms of your career,
and we just also want to find out that maybe
we can't pick it up from where you left earlier
on on how it was for you in trying to
accept these offers and just breathing the orde of wanting
(15:15):
to go the other route of what you believe in?
How has it been for you and what has made you?
What kept you going? What has kept you wanting to
even attain more educational qualifications even ap to reaching the
PhD level when we are sittd next to from just
(15:36):
being missus missed to this is and now a professor.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, so even the time that I started training and
getting to know the ladder or the academic progression of
missing and mid refree, what I didn't want was to
remain a registeredness waking on the words. When I went
(16:05):
to train at a Lusaka College of Nursing, I looked
up to our tutors and always felt like I wanted
to be like them when I grow up.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I would see them are delivering the content in front
of us in the different you know, classes and courses
that I took, and always felt that that's what I
needed to do. I didn't want to remain waking as
a registedness without progressing academically, and so at that point
(16:50):
I knew the progression, the academic progression. I knew that
in nessing you could do a bachelor's degree, you could
go through to a master's degree, and your actsly could
also go through to the PhD. And so I really
was looking forward to taking steps moving app academically, which
(17:13):
I also thought that would mean that I'm moving up
professionally as well.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Okay, quite an interesting and maybe it just ran us
through that academic academic journey. Where did you Where did
you start? Where did you get those qualifications? How easy
was it?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
It wasn't that easy because at the time, after graduating
from Chinama College or Health Sciences as a registered mental
healthiness there wasn't any high institution of learning in Zambia
that would offer a bachelor's degree in mental health nestly,
and so all of us that wanted bachelor's degrees at
(17:59):
that time, we're looking up to the post basic department
at the Investor of Zambia, which now we call the
School of Missing Sciences. You know where I'm working and
where I'm saving as acting dean at at the minute.
So I did apply to go to the Post Basic
(18:25):
School of missing to pursue my bachelor's degree and while
waiting for an acceptance, later I won a scholarship through
ministrl Health and Who to go to Scotland and pursue
something that was associated to mental heal. So after I
had left, actually that's when I realized that there was
(18:48):
an acceptance slator to come to invest up. But I
was already in Scotland, and Ministry of Health at that
time through Personnel Office assisted in looking for or scholarships
that were being offered within mental health because at that
time it was the menstrul of Bals realized that we
didn't have enough personnail in mental healthnessing around that level
(19:14):
of training. So the next dublish or scholarship that came
was given to myself and another friend of mine to
go to Scotland at the Glassbow Caledonian Unversity to do
a bachelor's degree program. But what happened there was there
because their training programs are modular and depending on the
(19:38):
number of moduves that you take, each module attracts credits,
and the number of credits that you accumulate at one
point are the ones that will teer you up to
the bachelor's degree if you want. So both myself, by
friends and I managed to finish the bachelor's degree program
(19:59):
modules within one year, and yet the beach was sponsored
us for two years, so we still had one year sponsorship.
And I mean, there's no way that would have come
back home because I've been given a bachelor's degree knowing
that we still are sponsorship for the next year. And
so in the UK also the mass masters, the degree
(20:23):
programs ran for nine months six months in class, the
many six months you know, to make a year past
nine months for you to do the dissertation. So we
requested whether we could progress onto the master's program and
were allowed because we had funding. So that's how we
(20:45):
went in for the bachelor's degree. But when we were
coming back we had bought the bachelor's degree and the
master's that was to allow ship it. So that's how.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
That was.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
It's very interesting because you go for one and then
you come back with grow two w killed.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Two bits if you want to.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
So what would you say one of media challenges during
your school from the way you moved each year, to
you read to do your masters and the til it
came back.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Some of the challenges especially the times that I went
to study in the UK for the bachelor's and nercy
program was just you know, the education system that I
went through here was kind of different from what I
found in the UK, and so the first semester was
(21:46):
really hard for me to adjust. I remember that, I
think because of also misunderstanding the presentation of the courses.
The first semester I actually failed one course. And during
the time that I was at the Lusaka School of
(22:08):
Missing now Lusacer College of Missing, China'm a college of
your Scientist, I never failed any course and so that
just threw me off balance, you know, I was almost
like getting depressed failing. So anyway, I had to retake
that course because the lectures there are very open. The
explained to me why I failed and where you know,
(22:31):
I misunderstood issues, and so it meant that in the
next semester I had to take an overload, including the
course that I failed. And so after the first semester
then I had settled, you know, down in terms of
navigating the university, navigating the libraries. At that point there
(22:54):
were more online than where so I had to you know,
keep up with with all that. But getting into the
second semester, I think I was and getting to grips
with you know what was in front of me, and
so I managed to create all the four courses and
(23:15):
awarded the bachelor's degree and then moved on to the MSc.
But considering the challenges that I experienced a bachelor's degree,
I can tell you one thing that the master's degree
was like a sell through, so that even when it
came to graduating at master's degree level, I graduated with
a distinction because now I had stabilized and the year
(23:38):
how to navigate and visit Okay, how.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
How easy is it now for young nurses or went
to pursue other avergues within the profession? How easy is
is it the same? What is it the same as
it was back then when you were started? What other
opportunities are there for these young nurses wants to go
study abroad advance to attaining your bachelor's from just being
(24:05):
a registeredness diplomat to a bachelor's masters How easy is
it that?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I would say it's not as easier as it was
in our time, because if you look at current times,
we have an increase in the numbers of training institutions
of floodingnesses and midwives. And what that means is we
(24:33):
are graduating more neeces at a time than we used
to graduate those years. So opportunities would be there, but
they wouldn't be as the available or as accessible as
they were a previously. But then the other positive thing
that I need to make mention here is that when
(24:59):
a student or when the graduate is good, they are good.
And you know, for as long as you have done
very well and you are recognized for having passed very well,
the opportunities for you are actually more than somebody who
has performed as well as you have done. So there
(25:20):
are still opportunities.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Especially I should say especially for the cream dealer cream
of the nieces and mid wines that are being churned
out of the training institutions.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Interesting, so back from getting a master's professor. You you
went there waking in the in the profession. You are
back here now an academician. Where was the transition? Now
did the transition happen?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
So I came back from the UK, We said two verifications?
Is they dole one? So and I went back to
en I'm a college to wake. So I rid there
and started working as a lecture and as time was moving,
I started moving through the ranks. The first time I
was recognized was when I was given the position of
(26:15):
Din of Students, or when I was responsible for students
affairs at Chinama College of Hell Sciences. I must mention
that I worked very well with the student union and
with the students as well, some of whom are old
now and awaking, and I meet them, you know, we
joke about the life at Chinama, And I remember that
(26:38):
there was a time that I was out in South
Africa attending some work shop and when I arrived back
at the time I was a din of students, I
found that there was a strike. The students were striking,
and I found things had escalated to a level where
(27:00):
we actually had to seek the mission from the Ministry
of Health to close the college. And I remember that
when I arrived back, my supervisor was the executive director
at Chinama US College Hospital, actually confronting me and telling
me that if you were around, this situation didn't escalated
(27:24):
to where it is now. So you know, those points
made me realize that there was something positive that I
was contributing in the lives of students and his students
respected my opinions. I respected their position as a students
as well, and so we worked together very well and
(27:44):
my supervisors knew that. So after that then I moved
into the office of the registrar, so as a registrar
for the college. The firstness to save as registrar at
Chinama College or GIRLSLF is because we're not the only
ones that were being trained there, and subsequently the first
(28:07):
next to take up the position of director training. At
the time, the director training went for his studics and
so before then he came back for his studies from
South Africa. It was also time for me to go
back from a PhD. So that's how I did China
and as director training. Okay, kind as.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Through your journey of you are going to attend your PhD, professor,
where was the motivation did you think at the time,
baby and master's was enough?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I remember I arrived at the Chinama College of her
Sciences and as a clinical instructor, if I take you
back a bit, and I was given an office which
I shared with two other colleagues. Unfortunately both of them
have since. So there were two females, myself and another
(29:04):
colleague who was actually senior by age and also professionally,
and a colleague was a cling of the psychiatric has
also since passed made their rock was rested in peace.
And so when I arrived there, this s male colleague
has me so lonely. So you've come here as a
clinical instructor, why are you seeing yourself in the next
(29:27):
five years? At that point I only had my diploma
as a registeredness and a diploma in registered mental healthnessy
And so I looked at him and I said, I
want to do a bachelor's degree, and then I want
to do a master's degree, and then I want to
do a PhD. And I burst out to laugh harm myself.
(29:47):
So he says, no, don't laugh, that's very serious. You
need to just focus. So, you know, we joked about
it and we laughed. At that particular time, him was
doing a bachelor's in in I think adult education or
something at the Investors and I hadn't started.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
And so.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
When I got the scholarship to go to Scotland, by
the time I was coming back, he was finishing his
distance education bachelor's degree and I had come back with
the master's degree on top of this. So I was
joking with him, saying, you see you know in my language. Okay,
(30:30):
we started adia but here and my qualifications. We used
to motivate each other like that. But apparently even for him,
by the time he was dying a few a couple
of years ago, he already had a PhD. So, you know,
having a PhD was something that I thought about and
I hoped for, and I walked towards from the time
(30:52):
that I stepped on the soil of the sacer College
of Missing when I realized that there was a ladder,
that there was an academic ladder that you can aspire
through as a nurse, and that even in nessing you
can have a doctor in messing.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And so.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I had to leave the office of the Director Training
at Chinama to go and do my PhD. At that
particular time, I didn't have actually any specific funding. Chinama
College put me an air ticket and paid twenty fight
percent on my fees, and I thought, because I was registeredness,
(31:38):
I'll be working part time in the UK and paying
my fees. So when I arrived there with twenty fight
percent intitution fees from Chinama College or Health Sciences, I
also negotiated within the department and asked for it another
twenty fight percent waiver because of the background and I
(32:00):
was coming from, and that I didn't have somebody to
fund my studies. Unfortunately, the dean of the faculty at
that time gave me the twenty five percent, so it
meant that I only had fifty percents to pay for myself.
And so that's how I wake. I actually waked in
the UK, had studied, and then at some point, you
(32:22):
know you in life, you reach a stage or you
reach an age where home is home and regardless of
what it is, that's where you belong. You miss certain
things at home. You miss things like during the remy season,
(32:43):
I want to go to the market and buy Mysaco
at it, I won't find the Masco in the UK,
it's summer time, it's a bit warmer, and you're seated
outside and basking and and the family is back home.
(33:03):
So I did the first two years of my PhD
full time and I couldn't manage to cook, to stay.
I needed to come back home because I was missing
on a lot. So I requested whether I could do
the last one year through distance because I had finished
all the classes that I needed to attend, and that
(33:25):
started packaging my PhD thesis and so I was allowed
to come back. That's how I came back to China,
my college or willstances and waked until the time that
they enraged. Zambia advertised for a lecture in mentally health nessing.
(33:50):
And you know that generally Metho goes nessing is stigmatizing.
People think that because I've done mental health missing, I'm
also many times I'm done, and so I write on
the stigma to progress to where I am now.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
And so.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
There's not much competition. So there were just two of
us that will compete for that position at the Investor Zambia,
and that happens to be the one to get it.
And that's how come I'm still with the Investor Zombie.
So I had moved the Visitor Zambia and the first
year at the inversity while waking, I completed my PhD
(34:34):
and graduated in twit.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Okay, such a long time, fifteen years down in my Okay,
no from your sessions, why it's more Okay, just briefly
runners through how easy is itable Nurses who are waking
now two are these similar opportunities are going to pursue
(35:03):
education even the UK or other places even waking there.
How is it for these young professions now.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
I've stopped by going to school, which I refer to
earlier on that when you are good, your good, when
people appreciate that academically, are committed, you're hardwaking, you are
high flyer. Opportunities are available, people will identify you, and
people connect you to the opportunities that you deserve to have.
(35:36):
And so even if the opportunities are not as many
as they used to be in the past, but they
have opportunities that people can complete, you know. Four And
now coming to the issues of going to the UK
to wakes, not only the UK, I think I you know,
(35:58):
within the time that I have been in this and
and in in administration and an academician, I've seen a
lot of lessons my great from this country to go
and wake somewhere, awake in the UK week, in the
US week, in Australia. It's a globe of village. And
(36:24):
when opportunities are open, sometimes it's difficult for you to
prevent the perform going. So alarm the ones that want
to to go. Some of us that think we want
to be here, we remain. But that doesn't mean that
the people that have left to go and wake somewhere
(36:44):
else are not. We are not I don't want to
say law abiding and not. There's still citizens of his
country and indirectly they are bringing reaven you by sending
money back to their country to their family. You know
(37:07):
that in itself also helps to develop the country. But
you find that even when flad gates are open for
whoever wants to go and wake abroad, who ever wants
to one work abroad to go, there will still be
(37:27):
people that would want to remain Others they are going
to wake, they work for a short period of time
and they have come back because this is where they
want to be. Those that wants to remain out there,
they still can remain out there. But they are still Zamian.
There still are brothers and sisters and we still love them.
(37:48):
And where does one get those opportunities where they foul it?
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Guess one White's too guesses.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Well, I'm actually not sure because I don't look through
right now, but I want to believe that. You know,
with with the with the opening up of internet where
everything is online, people search for things that sometimes when
(38:18):
they bring to you, you think, wow, how did you
even find this? It was found online. So people are
getting connected online. There are people out there who when
they see opportunities available, they will contact their friends here,
and their friends here will share with other friends and
(38:38):
you know, and they go. So opportunities are still there
and they're on the phone, perb ful the smile phone.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
For you. You want advice? Would you give? It? Really
is out there and Nate was already qualified as well
as the ones who are are waiting deployment. What althers
would you give them? Because they're living and opportunities and
what else they can do aside from nassing or within
the net importnity, what's aligned for them in future?
Speaker 3 (39:20):
I'll tell you one thing that nessing is a very
demanding profession. I have most a lot of times said
that it's not for the faint at tape, but it's
a very enriching profession. If that's a profession which you was,
(39:41):
you will enjoy waking in it. But if you came
in this profession because that's all you, that's all you
could manage to find, you might find it different to cope.
When I'm speaking to students and I'm speaking to my
(40:01):
fellow nieces, I ask them how they feel when they
go in the world and they find a patient in
a mess on the bed, they bat that patient. If
they are diapers, change the pace. The patients diapers the
(40:22):
bed where you went smelling feces and urine, and you
are walking away from that bed and it's mailing talk
and powder. I ask them, how do you feel? If
you don't feel anything, then you don't belong here. For me,
when I'm batting a patient with cupboard in fieces and
(40:45):
in urine and I'm walking away, I don't even care
how much I'm getting. The gratification that I get from
helping this person in a vulnerable a situation is much
more than the money that I get. And so if
(41:06):
you don't feel touched by that, then you are in
a totally wrong profession. We don't We don't join nessing
for money. We join missing because of the sanctity of
I say, the sanctity of the profession. People come to
you at the time they are most vulnerable, and they
(41:29):
come to you because they trust that you will help them.
And if you still if she wants to start yelling
at them or kicking them left, right and center, I say,
you are in a totally wrong profession. You need to
go get out and go and look for where they wrong.
We are in missing because we have the heart to care.
(41:51):
We are the missing because we want to respect every
patient that arives at our care that the person that's
arriving to you in tattled trousers and dresses and strangers
is as human as you are, or you at the
(42:12):
path in the morney. When you receive them, you might
not even know how much they have done for this
country to be where it is today. But because they
are old and they are tatted, then you start kicking
them around and yetting at them, You're in totally wrong profession.
I age everyone who doesn't feel connected to the patients
(42:34):
that arrive at their care to find a profession there.
They did all.
Speaker 6 (42:39):
I know that.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
We talk about the propreasion being in battles, the professions
image being in battled. They are very goodnesses out there.
They're just it's you not undertannishing the age of the profession.
I am in missing because I chose to be an.
I love to be anss. I am proud to be
(43:04):
a NIS and I always call upon everyone to join
hands and celebrate the uniqueness of this profession. We are
not in it for money. We are in it because
we care. We are in it because we have to
be there to care for people that arrive in our
hands in their most vulnerable time.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
No, professor, just before we conclude, now, does it mean
for those ones who are in school? You had mentioned
at one point pursuing higher education, so I went in
to even get more qualifications. You fell off with one subject,
but you Saja, don't what would you tell such a
one in school there now just because they are failed?
(43:50):
And then they're thinking, maybe this is not what my
passion or maybe I would want to give to give
upon the profession.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
And I'll give you an example of one of my
students that I'm supervising in in in research. And I'm
sure that when you post this body first, he might
even be able to listen to it and might identify
himself what I'm talking about now. So he says, no proof.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
I I.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Feel like giving up because when I send documents they
are coming back. There are a lot of comments and
things that I'm not making any progress. And I said,
I understand what you mean, but you have come this farst,
(44:41):
you have done so much so far, and you want
to give it up now. No. And in addition, in academia,
even missing training it's part of academics. In academia, if
you you are not finding, you're not coming across any
(45:03):
challenges or anything that you struggle to do. But anyhow
you wake hard and you manage to do it, then
it's a fluke. If you think you're just going to
sell through and think it's going to be as easy
as drinking water, it isn't. It takes time, efforts, and commitment.
(45:23):
Without that, yes, you can decide to leave, but even
if you live wherever you will go. If it's a
genuine qualification you're looking for, it doesn't come on a
silber plat. I tell my students, if these degrees that
we are giving you a year at the visit of Zambia,
where easy to get. Every gym and jack that you
(45:48):
see walking along the street there will have them.
Speaker 4 (45:52):
Because society says degree. So get your pastoral. Will that
you get one?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Yes, pass through that other will give you a just
get that paper. Yes, but you know, even when you
get the paper, the paper doesn't mean anything. The paper
means something if people you can show people that you
(46:20):
went to do a Batchelor's degree and you have come
back and you are changed. That's only the way that
you do things, So it is all in what you're
able to do. Otherwise it won't take any difference. You
can have a PhD. But if you're still in the
way that you do things, in the way that you
interrupt with your patients, in the way that you interact
with your students, if you're still behaving the way you
(46:42):
were behaving when you got a diplom, a PhD doesn't
mean anything. So it lies in the way in what
you have to a float to the community. Should it
be the academic community, the research community, the community community
where we live. If you're making a difference there, then
your paper makes it differs.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And professor, thank you very much for well operating those
quality points and for your now extensive experience from academia
and of course you've traveled across different countries just trying
to see how the profession operates. What do you think
our Zambia nacin profession needs to improve for it to produce,
(47:25):
to continue producing equality and competent nurses so that when
never patients visit these health care facilities, they appreciate this
kind of service.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
I think on that one, what I would say is
there competence space begins at individual. There yourself, as an
individual who's going to train, how committed are you today?
Training program? We need to introspect at individual level and
(48:06):
agree that this is where I want to be and
as long as you agree with yourself, this is where
it wants to be. Even when you meet challenges, Challenges
are part of life in academy. Even if you meet challenges,
you'll be able to wake through the challenges and achieve
what it is that you want to achieve. In our
(48:27):
training programs, some competencies that we make sure that our
students graduate with include the fact that we give them
Then you know, we help them to acquire the knowledge.
We also need them to acquire the skills they need
(48:48):
to go and make sure that when they're giving an injection,
they're giving it on the right side at the right time,
and they make sure they're giving the correct medication. But
we also teach them the issues of attitude. And when
you take all the three together, aness who has knowledge,
(49:09):
an ess who has skills, aness who has positive attitudes,
then you have aness that can deliver quality. Miss in
care to the patients. With the three, you have a
nurse who won't be screening at a patient. In my
own opinion, like I mentioned earlier, enness can acquire knowledge
(49:36):
and skills, but if they don't change the attitude to
fit the profession within which they will be operating, then
we have the problem. They not paying attention to things
that are supposed to be done on the patient. They
don't care whether the patient should receive medication at this
particular time. They don't care about anything. It is an
issue of attitude which also begins from an individual, and
(50:02):
sometimes individuals find themselves in missing not because they wanted
to be there and because that's not where they wanted
to be. It connects with the way they behave towards
the patients and towards their abilitives, towards the patient's relatives,
even towards their superiors at the work place. So it
(50:22):
starts on individually. In terms of training, we make sure
that we give them all the skills, but it's up
to you to take some of the skills and leave them.
And that's how you see within one class, you have
three quarters of the graduates very good, very committed, and
(50:42):
you have one quarter of them already. Don't give it
a dumb It's unfortunate, and those are the ones to
whom I'm appealing for them to go and find where
they belong so that they don't unleash their frustrations on
patients that arrive at their uh in their hands, at
(51:03):
their most vulnerable time.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
But interesting approp now from your you as an academician,
how important is it that neces well training have a
kind of an interpreneur might how do you think that
that is important, especially in the time we're living in
(51:26):
it for them not to just they should maybe pay
just so much attention to their profession or they should
see how best they can also just try to dibsify
in terms of wanting to sustain or manage the living.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, the beauty about the currentness and training is we
have a component of entrepreneurship in the in the curriculum
because we realize that as a number of nes is
being produced in training institutions is increasing, it's not possible
(52:03):
that government can absorb everywhere. And you know, for me,
it's also unfortunate that all the time we are appealing
to government. Can government absorb everyone? No, But it shouldn't
be like that. It shouldn't be government to absorb every
person that we are training. There should be other opportunities
(52:25):
where nieces that have graduated, you know, should go and
increment their skills. The current Nurses and Midwise Acts actually
provide a lot of opportunities for naces in terms of
(52:45):
our entrepreneurship. Just like our colleagues in other professions, people
are grouping up to open up something for as long
as we know that that's being done in the comfort
finds and the prescriptions of the law. There are a
lot of opportunities within the Nurses and Midwives the current
(53:08):
Messes and midway Is Act. People can set up missing
homes for instance. People can set up health facilities where
for instance, people can just walk in and have their
PEPY checked, their temperature checked, and if the VP is high,
the NETS can refer them, you know, for further interventions.
(53:30):
So there are a lot of opportunities in there, and
I think it's important for us not to expect that
government should absorb everyone that's been churned out of the
training institutions. We need also within our profession to create
opportunities within ourselves, like you know, opening up missing homes,
(53:53):
opening up other facilities that are provided for within the law,
and so that instead of waiting for governments to employ
us also help government to employ others and contribute to
the development of this country. So the opportunities for entrepreneurship
are actually even within the Curriculu or missing can be
(54:14):
roof ye.
Speaker 4 (54:16):
Man it comes to opening up to these missing homes
or debt can thens also open up and things could
be car mostly isoosey find that they've been open at
their joctors And I think, I don't know if nissus
don't know about that part or it has not yet
been opened up to.
Speaker 3 (54:32):
But how can you how can it not be opened
up to them? Because the nass and Midwise Act is there,
it's our Yeah, So how can we not know that
within the law, that that within the then the then thenssing,
the niss and Midwise the acts, which is our act
(54:54):
which regulates us. We are the owners. How can we
not know that the then I can open a school
of nezzi. The reason why that was done was for
ness actually is to was to open up neces to
interrupt renewership.
Speaker 4 (55:12):
But we allow others, Oh, we say our minds that
said to us what to be clate to.
Speaker 3 (55:22):
Some plude by government special I think.
Speaker 4 (55:25):
Mostly little put on the far world. They can open
up anything, school against place will be an eye open
up for most nieces and be able to do other things,
you know, not just wait for coming to declore.
Speaker 3 (55:35):
Yes, not wait for government to to to deployss. It
is also help government to create more opportunities for naces
to be employed.
Speaker 2 (55:45):
And as we conclude a professor, you're concluding rights.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
My concluding wights something that I I you know, I
tell myself I should be I would be feeling myself
and the professional if I don't say it, and I
think I have mentioned it at several points that nessing
is very demanded yet very enriching for somebody that wanted
(56:14):
to be in this profession, and that we have the
responsibility to take care of patience, regardless of their background,
regardless of the condition in which they arrive in our care,
because we don't know how much they even contributed to
the development of this country before they became ill. We
(56:36):
received them at their most vulnerable, and so we have
the responsibility to respect them and to provide them with
the care that they deserve. We want to celebrate the
uniqueness of this profession from the sanctity aspect of it,
and that yes, we need money to sustain ourselves, but
(56:59):
if we advance the issue of money, we will not
be able to provide the care we are here before.
Because we care, and the care that we should be
providing to our patients should be seen. We need to
respect our patients. We need to be committed to our
(57:21):
profession and to our wake, and we also need to
introspect within ourselves.
Speaker 6 (57:29):
And if we find that this isn't where we belong,
we need to get out of here as soon as possible,
because otherwise will be killing uh, We'll be killing.
Speaker 3 (57:39):
People in our care. We neednesses that are committed to
the profession, and if the next chose to be here,
we won't to be complaining about their commitment and about
how they treat patients and about how they sulk when
they are interacting with their favornesses. We are here to
(58:01):
care and it should show that we are carry If
we don't feel that it's time for us, get out, Thank.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
You very much, I think very much. A professor. Quite
an interesting discussion we've with a professor Lodium Marpe, who
is an academician and of course seasoned nas and of
course commitment, focused and hardwork are the key weds that
have been highlighted. And as part of our this discussion
we had quite interesting and we hope you, our dear ness,
(58:34):
our dear audience, will benefit from such a conversations and
we wish you are the best in your young careers.
So thank you very much for watching, until next time.
Welcome to the Smart Podcast, where healthcare beats hustled. Each
week we bring you inspiring stories from nurses who have
turned their clinical expertise into thriving businesses, innovative startups, and
impactful ventions. Our guests share insights, challenges and trumps of
merging compassions with commerce. Whether you're looking to elevate your
(00:23):
nursing Korea or I'm back on an entrepreneur journey, the
Smart Podcast please your go to resource for motivation and
actionable advice. Tune in and transform your passion for care
into powerful catalyst forward chain.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to our Smart podcast, and we're excited to have
you watching us. Of course, our first episode of the
Smart Podcast, we're excited to of course have our esteep guest,
Professor Lnia Marpe, to join us on a brief deep
conversation where we dive into the professional life, personal life,
(00:58):
and of course academic live. Professor pet thank you very
much for joining us, and welcome to the Smart Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thank you very much. I'm very very grateful to have
this opportunity to come and speak to the nieces that
will be able to listen to this podcast and those
that are planning to join the profession.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you very much, and they're excited of course to
watch you here on this smart podcast as we've asked
you and of course without it that Professor may of
our nieces and the audience will appreciate from this podcast
now to start with, because we also want to understand
and to know you a bit better. Let's peak it
up from knowing who Professor Donia Marbi is.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Who is she?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
How did you grow up? What kind of childhood did
you experience?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Thank you, Thank you very much. So late you have
rightly put it. My name's ape. I grew up. I say,
I grew up from a very humble background. I was
born and bred in Indollar. Those of you that have
taken the route to the copper built through Dollar to
(02:14):
kid who nowhere tow ap Year is located that I
quit my village because that's what made me who I
am today. So I grew up from there. I went
to primary school from grade one to grade five at
Mabungo Primary School within to twerp year. Later on, my
parents decided that I needed to go to the rural
(02:36):
area just to ensure that I completed my primary school.
So I was sent to a primary school alone Dolar
Kapio Road called Kashita Primary School where one of my
first cousins waked as a teacher. So I did my
grade six there and my grade survey and qualified to
go to secondary school. And I was at full secondary
(02:59):
school from one up to from four faced time when
I decided to go into bodying and ended that mayble
Shure Girls Secondary School. In there she saw and a
proud in there, she girl.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Okay, I as your experience of that boarding school arrangement,
how was it? Well?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
You know, I grew up with my parents and around
my family from grade one up to the time that
I moved now to go into boarding. I was excited
to go into boarding, but settling down at that time
was very difficult because I was just leaning not to
depend entirely on my parents and that I could begin
(03:44):
to manage my life on my own. But although the
beginning was difficult, it actually ended up being a very
very enriching experience where I began to lean my independence,
to learn how to behave, to learn what to avoid
(04:06):
and what to risk in terms of experiencing. So it
kind of created the foundation on which I built the
life that i'm beating today.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Okay, that's really interesting. So tell us something, what did
you what did your academic jalally look like after a
completing ritual.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So then when I completed grade twelve at apleshore Gel,
you know, as you are in virtuel, then you start
kind of you know, discussing and arguing or rather discovering
exactly what you want to be after grade twelve. You know,
it's surprising that the first thing that I wanted to do,
(04:52):
not knowing the career opportunities, was to be a fashion designer.
But you know, with my my jossing is actually ordinary.
So this is the time round I wonder whether I
would have made it as a fashion designer. So I
thought about fashion designing, but when I researched feather, I
(05:13):
realized that there were very few opportunities, if any, at
the time to thrive in fashion designing.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And then.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I thought, well, I think I'll be a registeredness okay,
And so it was in my mind when I was
completing RAE twelve that I needed to do registered nassing.
And you know, for some of us that grew up
in humble backgrounds, we didn't have connections, we didn't have
you know, appropriate or correct information about certain trainings how
(05:46):
you can get there. So it took my uncle who
did the mcnemy his stories in Peace, to contact my
mother in Twerpia that I needed to travel to the
Sacer for other beings. And those interviews took place at
even Homecoreye. And in those interviews it wasn't only nessy
(06:07):
that we've been interviewed, so it was all health wakers,
and you chose what you wanted to be. So, you know,
I looked at my results and I heard, you know,
we're talking all of us that way interested in doing nessy.
Gods to talk and so I ended up thinking, oh arthic.
(06:31):
On this phone, I was just I was started as
an inroadness because I didn't even know that you could
go directly into registered nessy. So I completed the phone
and I wanted to be an in roadness and then
later on I would upgrade to regist that nessy. So
I completed that phone, and on the phone, I indicated
(06:53):
that I wanted to be an enroadness, and following our discussions,
we apened that you could only start from inroadnessing and
then upgrade after you have qualified. And so when time
came for me to go in for the face to
face interview. The interviewers looked at he interviewed me, asked
(07:13):
me what motivated me to become a NISS and I
explained everything, and at the end of the interview they
asked me, looking at your results, we think that you
can go into registerednessing instead of in road nasing. That's
a difference. Are you interested? So the difference at that
(07:35):
particular time was that for in road missing programs you
only did two years and the registerednesssing you did three years.
So even when it came to waking, the registeredness was
the supervisor of an in roadness in those years. But
(07:56):
even now you could still see some of the dness
wearing a cape with a blue line in the cape,
so lother in roadnesses. That program was abolished in twenty nineteen,
so we stopped training in roadnesses in twenty nineteen. And
(08:18):
so that's how I got onto the registeredness in program.
And next thing, I received an acceptance late and it
was invest teachings because SACA Schulobness. So wow, yes, And
so that's how I started my nursing. Because I came
(08:40):
from a boarding school, I already had very good study skills,
and so when I got into the racededness in program,
I wouldn't say that it was difficult for me to
cope with the program. The first the first six months
(09:00):
is very critical and at that time, you know, people
that group of us students came from everywhere. Some of
us were interviewed at Ebilinghorn, others were interviewed from other provinces,
and so we met as they covered with different backgrounds
and some of who didn't know the amount of study
time they needed to allocate to, you know, to the
(09:24):
wake or to the studies. And so we were about
there were sixty five of us in that class. So
we filled the UTH lecture theater that but after six
months we had a third of us dropout because they
couldn't manage to pass the number of courses that they
(09:47):
needed to pass to progress to the next day. Six months,
out of the sixty that we were, five of us,
five including myself, cleared all the courses. You know where
we had one of the lecturers lying the five of
us up. So the five of us, three of us
(10:10):
were actually studying together. And you know, like shows everybody
now in class, you see this five, these five are
the ones that know why they are here. So you know,
we got we got so so motivated. And when we
(10:31):
are getting results, like when we write this and we
are getting results, so we get results for or for
our get results for my friends. And we stayed in
the same hostels, so when the hit that we are
getting results and I am, you know, one of us
is getting the results for everyone. So when you are
(10:52):
running now into the hostels with results, then they'll ask
you what's happening there. Then you're going to say, we
get yeah, So you know, meaning that we studied really hard.
During the time that I was at the School of Missing,
I learned that you actually could you could study and
(11:14):
sleep for five minutes when you are tired and wake
up fresh. So we worked really hard and settling through
the program was like, you know, as smooth as everyone
would like it to be, because we're putting quite a
lot when we expect exams. We hardly ever had any
(11:36):
social life until the exams, we're died. So that was
the School of Nessy And after graduating then I everybody
wanted to be a midwife. But during my training I
got interested in mental healthnessing and I thought, well, I
wanted to be a mental health mess. So while I
(11:58):
was waking, I sieved two admissions into the Midway Free School,
but I declined to go. But luckily enough, there was
an introduction of the Registered Mental Healthiness and program at
chinam A College, and when I heard about it, I
had to go. So I was in the second group
(12:19):
and there I graduated at best student around because that's
what I wanted to do. And because I graduated as
best students around. After having worked for a few years,
I was invited by the college site to be the
clink constrant and one of the clinical instructors for those
(12:40):
that were training as registered mental health messes. And so
I was a clink co instructor for a couple of
years and through funding from who I got a scholarship.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
So that was a part of I said, a little student, men,
or more than school, what did you do need do very?
And then we're offered to admitial for which I know
everyone has to be excited on the offered aditially NeSSI
and you declined them because you wanted to do mental
healthy So what's motivated you to do with this adminion Helocky.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
The exposure that I had during my redister nacy training
at Chinama. He was hospital. Normally, the program at that
time had, you know, gave us six weeks exposure in
terms of practice where you are located to Chinama. He
(13:35):
was hospital, and during that time I found myself feeling
at home and kind of understood what the patients were
going through, and I thought that, you know, I should
(13:56):
say that that in itself, the interaction with the student,
I mean, the interaction with the patience and interaction with
the members of staff there kind of triggered something in
me that confirmed within myself that that's the place that
I wanted to be.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
So rented at end points, not scared because you know,
I didn't really well, but a mentally nut stable. Why
if you they can be too pallid and everything.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I think that I was born a mental healthness because
nothing that happened on the world, even before I actually
trained as a mental helpness, really scared me to pursue
mental healthness. So in a way I think that I
think God made it that I should be a mental helpness.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
That's right, quite quite quite quite very interesting. And I
think the war is progression in terms of your career,
and we just also want to find out that maybe
we can't pick it up from where you left earlier
on on how it was for you in trying to
accept these offers and just breathing the orde of wanting
(15:15):
to go the other route of what you believe in?
How has it been for you and what has made you?
What kept you going? What has kept you wanting to
even attain more educational qualifications even ap to reaching the
PhD level when we are sittd next to from just
(15:36):
being missus missed to this is and now a professor.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, so even the time that I started training and
getting to know the ladder or the academic progression of
missing and mid refree, what I didn't want was to
remain a registeredness waking on the words. When I went
(16:05):
to train at a Lusaka College of Nursing, I looked
up to our tutors and always felt like I wanted
to be like them when I grow up.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I would see them are delivering the content in front
of us in the different you know, classes and courses
that I took, and always felt that that's what I
needed to do. I didn't want to remain waking as
a registedness without progressing academically, and so at that point
(16:50):
I knew the progression, the academic progression. I knew that
in nessing you could do a bachelor's degree, you could
go through to a master's degree, and your actsly could
also go through to the PhD. And so I really
was looking forward to taking steps moving app academically, which
(17:13):
I also thought that would mean that I'm moving up
professionally as well.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Okay, quite an interesting and maybe it just ran us
through that academic academic journey. Where did you Where did
you start? Where did you get those qualifications? How easy
was it?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
It wasn't that easy because at the time, after graduating
from Chinama College or Health Sciences as a registered mental
healthiness there wasn't any high institution of learning in Zambia
that would offer a bachelor's degree in mental health nestly,
and so all of us that wanted bachelor's degrees at
(17:59):
that time, we're looking up to the post basic department
at the Investor of Zambia, which now we call the
School of Missing Sciences. You know where I'm working and
where I'm saving as acting dean at at the minute.
So I did apply to go to the Post Basic
(18:25):
School of missing to pursue my bachelor's degree and while
waiting for an acceptance, later I won a scholarship through
ministrl Health and Who to go to Scotland and pursue
something that was associated to mental heal. So after I
had left, actually that's when I realized that there was
(18:48):
an acceptance slator to come to invest up. But I
was already in Scotland, and Ministry of Health at that
time through Personnel Office assisted in looking for or scholarships
that were being offered within mental health because at that
time it was the menstrul of Bals realized that we
didn't have enough personnail in mental healthnessing around that level
(19:14):
of training. So the next dublish or scholarship that came
was given to myself and another friend of mine to
go to Scotland at the Glassbow Caledonian Unversity to do
a bachelor's degree program. But what happened there was there
because their training programs are modular and depending on the
(19:38):
number of moduves that you take, each module attracts credits,
and the number of credits that you accumulate at one
point are the ones that will teer you up to
the bachelor's degree if you want. So both myself, by
friends and I managed to finish the bachelor's degree program
(19:59):
modules within one year, and yet the beach was sponsored
us for two years, so we still had one year sponsorship.
And I mean, there's no way that would have come
back home because I've been given a bachelor's degree knowing
that we still are sponsorship for the next year. And
so in the UK also the mass masters, the degree
(20:23):
programs ran for nine months six months in class, the
many six months you know, to make a year past
nine months for you to do the dissertation. So we
requested whether we could progress onto the master's program and
were allowed because we had funding. So that's how we
(20:45):
went in for the bachelor's degree. But when we were
coming back we had bought the bachelor's degree and the
master's that was to allow ship it. So that's how.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
That was.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
It's very interesting because you go for one and then
you come back with grow two w killed.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Two bits if you want to.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
So what would you say one of media challenges during
your school from the way you moved each year, to
you read to do your masters and the til it
came back.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Some of the challenges especially the times that I went
to study in the UK for the bachelor's and nercy
program was just you know, the education system that I
went through here was kind of different from what I
found in the UK, and so the first semester was
(21:46):
really hard for me to adjust. I remember that, I
think because of also misunderstanding the presentation of the courses.
The first semester I actually failed one course. And during
the time that I was at the Lusaka School of
(22:08):
Missing now Lusacer College of Missing, China'm a college of
your Scientist, I never failed any course and so that
just threw me off balance, you know, I was almost
like getting depressed failing. So anyway, I had to retake
that course because the lectures there are very open. The
explained to me why I failed and where you know,
(22:31):
I misunderstood issues, and so it meant that in the
next semester I had to take an overload, including the
course that I failed. And so after the first semester
then I had settled, you know, down in terms of
navigating the university, navigating the libraries. At that point there
(22:54):
were more online than where so I had to you know,
keep up with with all that. But getting into the
second semester, I think I was and getting to grips
with you know what was in front of me, and
so I managed to create all the four courses and
(23:15):
awarded the bachelor's degree and then moved on to the MSc.
But considering the challenges that I experienced a bachelor's degree,
I can tell you one thing that the master's degree
was like a sell through, so that even when it
came to graduating at master's degree level, I graduated with
a distinction because now I had stabilized and the year
(23:38):
how to navigate and visit Okay, how.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
How easy is it now for young nurses or went
to pursue other avergues within the profession? How easy is
is it the same? What is it the same as
it was back then when you were started? What other
opportunities are there for these young nurses wants to go
study abroad advance to attaining your bachelor's from just being
(24:05):
a registeredness diplomat to a bachelor's masters How easy is
it that?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I would say it's not as easier as it was
in our time, because if you look at current times,
we have an increase in the numbers of training institutions
of floodingnesses and midwives. And what that means is we
(24:33):
are graduating more neeces at a time than we used
to graduate those years. So opportunities would be there, but
they wouldn't be as the available or as accessible as
they were a previously. But then the other positive thing
that I need to make mention here is that when
(24:59):
a student or when the graduate is good, they are good.
And you know, for as long as you have done
very well and you are recognized for having passed very well,
the opportunities for you are actually more than somebody who
has performed as well as you have done. So there
(25:20):
are still opportunities.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Especially I should say especially for the cream dealer cream
of the nieces and mid wines that are being churned
out of the training institutions.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Interesting, so back from getting a master's professor. You you
went there waking in the in the profession. You are
back here now an academician. Where was the transition? Now
did the transition happen?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
So I came back from the UK, We said two verifications?
Is they dole one? So and I went back to
en I'm a college to wake. So I rid there
and started working as a lecture and as time was moving,
I started moving through the ranks. The first time I
was recognized was when I was given the position of
(26:15):
Din of Students, or when I was responsible for students
affairs at Chinama College of Hell Sciences. I must mention
that I worked very well with the student union and
with the students as well, some of whom are old
now and awaking, and I meet them, you know, we
joke about the life at Chinama, And I remember that
(26:38):
there was a time that I was out in South
Africa attending some work shop and when I arrived back
at the time I was a din of students, I
found that there was a strike. The students were striking,
and I found things had escalated to a level where
(27:00):
we actually had to seek the mission from the Ministry
of Health to close the college. And I remember that
when I arrived back, my supervisor was the executive director
at Chinama US College Hospital, actually confronting me and telling
me that if you were around, this situation didn't escalated
(27:24):
to where it is now. So you know, those points
made me realize that there was something positive that I
was contributing in the lives of students and his students
respected my opinions. I respected their position as a students
as well, and so we worked together very well and
(27:44):
my supervisors knew that. So after that then I moved
into the office of the registrar, so as a registrar
for the college. The firstness to save as registrar at
Chinama College or GIRLSLF is because we're not the only
ones that were being trained there, and subsequently the first
(28:07):
next to take up the position of director training. At
the time, the director training went for his studics and
so before then he came back for his studies from
South Africa. It was also time for me to go
back from a PhD. So that's how I did China
and as director training. Okay, kind as.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Through your journey of you are going to attend your PhD, professor,
where was the motivation did you think at the time,
baby and master's was enough?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I remember I arrived at the Chinama College of her
Sciences and as a clinical instructor, if I take you
back a bit, and I was given an office which
I shared with two other colleagues. Unfortunately both of them
have since. So there were two females, myself and another
(29:04):
colleague who was actually senior by age and also professionally,
and a colleague was a cling of the psychiatric has
also since passed made their rock was rested in peace.
And so when I arrived there, this s male colleague
has me so lonely. So you've come here as a
clinical instructor, why are you seeing yourself in the next
(29:27):
five years? At that point I only had my diploma
as a registeredness and a diploma in registered mental healthnessy
And so I looked at him and I said, I
want to do a bachelor's degree, and then I want
to do a master's degree, and then I want to
do a PhD. And I burst out to laugh harm myself.
(29:47):
So he says, no, don't laugh, that's very serious. You
need to just focus. So, you know, we joked about
it and we laughed. At that particular time, him was
doing a bachelor's in in I think adult education or
something at the Investors and I hadn't started.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
And so.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
When I got the scholarship to go to Scotland, by
the time I was coming back, he was finishing his
distance education bachelor's degree and I had come back with
the master's degree on top of this. So I was
joking with him, saying, you see you know in my language. Okay,
(30:30):
we started adia but here and my qualifications. We used
to motivate each other like that. But apparently even for him,
by the time he was dying a few a couple
of years ago, he already had a PhD. So, you know,
having a PhD was something that I thought about and
I hoped for, and I walked towards from the time
(30:52):
that I stepped on the soil of the sacer College
of Missing when I realized that there was a ladder,
that there was an academic ladder that you can aspire
through as a nurse, and that even in nessing you
can have a doctor in messing.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And so.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I had to leave the office of the Director Training
at Chinama to go and do my PhD. At that
particular time, I didn't have actually any specific funding. Chinama
College put me an air ticket and paid twenty fight
percent on my fees, and I thought, because I was registeredness,
(31:38):
I'll be working part time in the UK and paying
my fees. So when I arrived there with twenty fight
percent intitution fees from Chinama College or Health Sciences, I
also negotiated within the department and asked for it another
twenty fight percent waiver because of the background and I
(32:00):
was coming from, and that I didn't have somebody to
fund my studies. Unfortunately, the dean of the faculty at
that time gave me the twenty five percent, so it
meant that I only had fifty percents to pay for myself.
And so that's how I wake. I actually waked in
the UK, had studied, and then at some point, you
(32:22):
know you in life, you reach a stage or you
reach an age where home is home and regardless of
what it is, that's where you belong. You miss certain
things at home. You miss things like during the remy season,
(32:43):
I want to go to the market and buy Mysaco
at it, I won't find the Masco in the UK,
it's summer time, it's a bit warmer, and you're seated
outside and basking and and the family is back home.
(33:03):
So I did the first two years of my PhD
full time and I couldn't manage to cook, to stay.
I needed to come back home because I was missing
on a lot. So I requested whether I could do
the last one year through distance because I had finished
all the classes that I needed to attend, and that
(33:25):
started packaging my PhD thesis and so I was allowed
to come back. That's how I came back to China,
my college or willstances and waked until the time that
they enraged. Zambia advertised for a lecture in mentally health nessing.
(33:50):
And you know that generally Metho goes nessing is stigmatizing.
People think that because I've done mental health missing, I'm
also many times I'm done, and so I write on
the stigma to progress to where I am now.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
And so.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
There's not much competition. So there were just two of
us that will compete for that position at the Investor Zambia,
and that happens to be the one to get it.
And that's how come I'm still with the Investor Zombie.
So I had moved the Visitor Zambia and the first
year at the inversity while waking, I completed my PhD
(34:34):
and graduated in twit.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Okay, such a long time, fifteen years down in my Okay,
no from your sessions, why it's more Okay, just briefly
runners through how easy is itable Nurses who are waking
now two are these similar opportunities are going to pursue
(35:03):
education even the UK or other places even waking there.
How is it for these young professions now.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
I've stopped by going to school, which I refer to
earlier on that when you are good, your good, when
people appreciate that academically, are committed, you're hardwaking, you are
high flyer. Opportunities are available, people will identify you, and
people connect you to the opportunities that you deserve to have.
(35:36):
And so even if the opportunities are not as many
as they used to be in the past, but they
have opportunities that people can complete, you know. Four And
now coming to the issues of going to the UK
to wakes, not only the UK, I think I you know,
(35:58):
within the time that I have been in this and
and in in administration and an academician, I've seen a
lot of lessons my great from this country to go
and wake somewhere, awake in the UK week, in the
US week, in Australia. It's a globe of village. And
(36:24):
when opportunities are open, sometimes it's difficult for you to
prevent the perform going. So alarm the ones that want
to to go. Some of us that think we want
to be here, we remain. But that doesn't mean that
the people that have left to go and wake somewhere
(36:44):
else are not. We are not I don't want to
say law abiding and not. There's still citizens of his
country and indirectly they are bringing reaven you by sending
money back to their country to their family. You know
(37:07):
that in itself also helps to develop the country. But
you find that even when flad gates are open for
whoever wants to go and wake abroad, who ever wants
to one work abroad to go, there will still be
(37:27):
people that would want to remain Others they are going
to wake, they work for a short period of time
and they have come back because this is where they
want to be. Those that wants to remain out there,
they still can remain out there. But they are still Zamian.
There still are brothers and sisters and we still love them.
(37:48):
And where does one get those opportunities where they foul it?
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Guess one White's too guesses.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Well, I'm actually not sure because I don't look through
right now, but I want to believe that. You know,
with with the with the opening up of internet where
everything is online, people search for things that sometimes when
(38:18):
they bring to you, you think, wow, how did you
even find this? It was found online. So people are
getting connected online. There are people out there who when
they see opportunities available, they will contact their friends here,
and their friends here will share with other friends and
(38:38):
you know, and they go. So opportunities are still there
and they're on the phone, perb ful the smile phone.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
For you. You want advice? Would you give? It? Really
is out there and Nate was already qualified as well
as the ones who are are waiting deployment. What althers
would you give them? Because they're living and opportunities and
what else they can do aside from nassing or within
the net importnity, what's aligned for them in future?
Speaker 3 (39:20):
I'll tell you one thing that nessing is a very
demanding profession. I have most a lot of times said
that it's not for the faint at tape, but it's
a very enriching profession. If that's a profession which you was,
(39:41):
you will enjoy waking in it. But if you came
in this profession because that's all you, that's all you
could manage to find, you might find it different to cope.
When I'm speaking to students and I'm speaking to my
(40:01):
fellow nieces, I ask them how they feel when they
go in the world and they find a patient in
a mess on the bed, they bat that patient. If
they are diapers, change the pace. The patients diapers the
(40:22):
bed where you went smelling feces and urine, and you
are walking away from that bed and it's mailing talk
and powder. I ask them, how do you feel? If
you don't feel anything, then you don't belong here. For me,
when I'm batting a patient with cupboard in fieces and
(40:45):
in urine and I'm walking away, I don't even care
how much I'm getting. The gratification that I get from
helping this person in a vulnerable a situation is much
more than the money that I get. And so if
(41:06):
you don't feel touched by that, then you are in
a totally wrong profession. We don't We don't join nessing
for money. We join missing because of the sanctity of
I say, the sanctity of the profession. People come to
you at the time they are most vulnerable, and they
(41:29):
come to you because they trust that you will help them.
And if you still if she wants to start yelling
at them or kicking them left, right and center, I say,
you are in a totally wrong profession. You need to
go get out and go and look for where they wrong.
We are in missing because we have the heart to care.
(41:51):
We are the missing because we want to respect every
patient that arives at our care that the person that's
arriving to you in tattled trousers and dresses and strangers
is as human as you are, or you at the
(42:12):
path in the morney. When you receive them, you might
not even know how much they have done for this
country to be where it is today. But because they
are old and they are tatted, then you start kicking
them around and yetting at them, You're in totally wrong profession.
I age everyone who doesn't feel connected to the patients
(42:34):
that arrive at their care to find a profession there.
They did all.
Speaker 6 (42:39):
I know that.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
We talk about the propreasion being in battles, the professions
image being in battled. They are very goodnesses out there.
They're just it's you not undertannishing the age of the profession.
I am in missing because I chose to be an.
I love to be anss. I am proud to be
(43:04):
a NIS and I always call upon everyone to join
hands and celebrate the uniqueness of this profession. We are
not in it for money. We are in it because
we care. We are in it because we have to
be there to care for people that arrive in our
hands in their most vulnerable time.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
No, professor, just before we conclude, now, does it mean
for those ones who are in school? You had mentioned
at one point pursuing higher education, so I went in
to even get more qualifications. You fell off with one subject,
but you Saja, don't what would you tell such a
one in school there now just because they are failed?
(43:50):
And then they're thinking, maybe this is not what my
passion or maybe I would want to give to give
upon the profession.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
And I'll give you an example of one of my
students that I'm supervising in in in research. And I'm
sure that when you post this body first, he might
even be able to listen to it and might identify
himself what I'm talking about now. So he says, no proof.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
I I.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Feel like giving up because when I send documents they
are coming back. There are a lot of comments and
things that I'm not making any progress. And I said,
I understand what you mean, but you have come this farst,
(44:41):
you have done so much so far, and you want
to give it up now. No. And in addition, in academia,
even missing training it's part of academics. In academia, if
you you are not finding, you're not coming across any
(45:03):
challenges or anything that you struggle to do. But anyhow
you wake hard and you manage to do it, then
it's a fluke. If you think you're just going to
sell through and think it's going to be as easy
as drinking water, it isn't. It takes time, efforts, and commitment.
(45:23):
Without that, yes, you can decide to leave, but even
if you live wherever you will go. If it's a
genuine qualification you're looking for, it doesn't come on a
silber plat. I tell my students, if these degrees that
we are giving you a year at the visit of Zambia,
where easy to get. Every gym and jack that you
(45:48):
see walking along the street there will have them.
Speaker 4 (45:52):
Because society says degree. So get your pastoral. Will that
you get one?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Yes, pass through that other will give you a just
get that paper. Yes, but you know, even when you
get the paper, the paper doesn't mean anything. The paper
means something if people you can show people that you
(46:20):
went to do a Batchelor's degree and you have come
back and you are changed. That's only the way that
you do things, So it is all in what you're
able to do. Otherwise it won't take any difference. You
can have a PhD. But if you're still in the
way that you do things, in the way that you
interrupt with your patients, in the way that you interact
with your students, if you're still behaving the way you
(46:42):
were behaving when you got a diplom, a PhD doesn't
mean anything. So it lies in the way in what
you have to a float to the community. Should it
be the academic community, the research community, the community community
where we live. If you're making a difference there, then
your paper makes it differs.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And professor, thank you very much for well operating those
quality points and for your now extensive experience from academia
and of course you've traveled across different countries just trying
to see how the profession operates. What do you think
our Zambia nacin profession needs to improve for it to produce,
(47:25):
to continue producing equality and competent nurses so that when
never patients visit these health care facilities, they appreciate this
kind of service.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
I think on that one, what I would say is
there competence space begins at individual. There yourself, as an
individual who's going to train, how committed are you today?
Training program? We need to introspect at individual level and
(48:06):
agree that this is where I want to be and
as long as you agree with yourself, this is where
it wants to be. Even when you meet challenges, Challenges
are part of life in academy. Even if you meet challenges,
you'll be able to wake through the challenges and achieve
what it is that you want to achieve. In our
(48:27):
training programs, some competencies that we make sure that our
students graduate with include the fact that we give them
Then you know, we help them to acquire the knowledge.
We also need them to acquire the skills they need
(48:48):
to go and make sure that when they're giving an injection,
they're giving it on the right side at the right time,
and they make sure they're giving the correct medication. But
we also teach them the issues of attitude. And when
you take all the three together, aness who has knowledge,
(49:09):
an ess who has skills, aness who has positive attitudes,
then you have aness that can deliver quality. Miss in
care to the patients. With the three, you have a
nurse who won't be screening at a patient. In my
own opinion, like I mentioned earlier, enness can acquire knowledge
(49:36):
and skills, but if they don't change the attitude to
fit the profession within which they will be operating, then
we have the problem. They not paying attention to things
that are supposed to be done on the patient. They
don't care whether the patient should receive medication at this
particular time. They don't care about anything. It is an
issue of attitude which also begins from an individual, and
(50:02):
sometimes individuals find themselves in missing not because they wanted
to be there and because that's not where they wanted
to be. It connects with the way they behave towards
the patients and towards their abilitives, towards the patient's relatives,
even towards their superiors at the work place. So it
(50:22):
starts on individually. In terms of training, we make sure
that we give them all the skills, but it's up
to you to take some of the skills and leave them.
And that's how you see within one class, you have
three quarters of the graduates very good, very committed, and
(50:42):
you have one quarter of them already. Don't give it
a dumb It's unfortunate, and those are the ones to
whom I'm appealing for them to go and find where
they belong so that they don't unleash their frustrations on
patients that arrive at their uh in their hands, at
(51:03):
their most vulnerable time.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
But interesting approp now from your you as an academician,
how important is it that neces well training have a
kind of an interpreneur might how do you think that
that is important, especially in the time we're living in
(51:26):
it for them not to just they should maybe pay
just so much attention to their profession or they should
see how best they can also just try to dibsify
in terms of wanting to sustain or manage the living.
Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, the beauty about the currentness and training is we
have a component of entrepreneurship in the in the curriculum
because we realize that as a number of nes is
being produced in training institutions is increasing, it's not possible
(52:03):
that government can absorb everywhere. And you know, for me,
it's also unfortunate that all the time we are appealing
to government. Can government absorb everyone? No, But it shouldn't
be like that. It shouldn't be government to absorb every
person that we are training. There should be other opportunities
(52:25):
where nieces that have graduated, you know, should go and
increment their skills. The current Nurses and Midwise Acts actually
provide a lot of opportunities for naces in terms of
(52:45):
our entrepreneurship. Just like our colleagues in other professions, people
are grouping up to open up something for as long
as we know that that's being done in the comfort
finds and the prescriptions of the law. There are a
lot of opportunities within the Nurses and Midwives the current
(53:08):
Messes and midway Is Act. People can set up missing
homes for instance. People can set up health facilities where
for instance, people can just walk in and have their
PEPY checked, their temperature checked, and if the VP is high,
the NETS can refer them, you know, for further interventions.
(53:30):
So there are a lot of opportunities in there, and
I think it's important for us not to expect that
government should absorb everyone that's been churned out of the
training institutions. We need also within our profession to create
opportunities within ourselves, like you know, opening up missing homes,
(53:53):
opening up other facilities that are provided for within the law,
and so that instead of waiting for governments to employ
us also help government to employ others and contribute to
the development of this country. So the opportunities for entrepreneurship
are actually even within the Curriculu or missing can be
(54:14):
roof ye.
Speaker 4 (54:16):
Man it comes to opening up to these missing homes
or debt can thens also open up and things could
be car mostly isoosey find that they've been open at
their joctors And I think, I don't know if nissus
don't know about that part or it has not yet
been opened up to.
Speaker 3 (54:32):
But how can you how can it not be opened
up to them? Because the nass and Midwise Act is there,
it's our Yeah, So how can we not know that
within the law, that that within the then the then thenssing,
the niss and Midwise the acts, which is our act
(54:54):
which regulates us. We are the owners. How can we
not know that the then I can open a school
of nezzi. The reason why that was done was for
ness actually is to was to open up neces to
interrupt renewership.
Speaker 4 (55:12):
But we allow others, Oh, we say our minds that
said to us what to be clate to.
Speaker 3 (55:22):
Some plude by government special I think.
Speaker 4 (55:25):
Mostly little put on the far world. They can open
up anything, school against place will be an eye open
up for most nieces and be able to do other things,
you know, not just wait for coming to declore.
Speaker 3 (55:35):
Yes, not wait for government to to to deployss. It
is also help government to create more opportunities for naces
to be employed.
Speaker 2 (55:45):
And as we conclude a professor, you're concluding rights.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
My concluding wights something that I I you know, I
tell myself I should be I would be feeling myself
and the professional if I don't say it, and I
think I have mentioned it at several points that nessing
is very demanded yet very enriching for somebody that wanted
(56:14):
to be in this profession, and that we have the
responsibility to take care of patience, regardless of their background,
regardless of the condition in which they arrive in our care,
because we don't know how much they even contributed to
the development of this country before they became ill. We
(56:36):
received them at their most vulnerable, and so we have
the responsibility to respect them and to provide them with
the care that they deserve. We want to celebrate the
uniqueness of this profession from the sanctity aspect of it,
and that yes, we need money to sustain ourselves, but
(56:59):
if we advance the issue of money, we will not
be able to provide the care we are here before.
Because we care, and the care that we should be
providing to our patients should be seen. We need to
respect our patients. We need to be committed to our
(57:21):
profession and to our wake, and we also need to
introspect within ourselves.
Speaker 6 (57:29):
And if we find that this isn't where we belong,
we need to get out of here as soon as possible,
because otherwise will be killing uh, We'll be killing.
Speaker 3 (57:39):
People in our care. We neednesses that are committed to
the profession, and if the next chose to be here,
we won't to be complaining about their commitment and about
how they treat patients and about how they sulk when
they are interacting with their favornesses. We are here to
(58:01):
care and it should show that we are carry If
we don't feel that it's time for us, get out, Thank.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
You very much, I think very much. A professor. Quite
an interesting discussion we've with a professor Lodium Marpe, who
is an academician and of course seasoned nas and of
course commitment, focused and hardwork are the key weds that
have been highlighted. And as part of our this discussion
we had quite interesting and we hope you, our dear ness,
(58:34):
our dear audience, will benefit from such a conversations and
we wish you are the best in your young careers.
So thank you very much for watching, until next time.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel