“Since I was a young girl I have always dreamt of being a nurse!”

Meet Dalitso Mawina, a 2017 Watipa scholar, studying Nursing and Midwifery course at St Luke’s College of Nursing And Midwifery in Likwenu, Malawi.

I am Dalitso Mawina. I am 23 years old and currently awaiting my results to proceed to level 2 of my Nursing and Midwifery course at St Luke’s College of Nursing and Midwifery in Likwenu, Malawi.

Since I was a young girl I have always dreamt of being a nurse. My motivation for choosing my career was to save people’s lives in my community, as well as my country, Malawi. I was also inspired by the fact that in Malawi we have shortage of nurses in hospital. A lot of people opt for other careers than nursing and currently 65 percent of nursing positions in public hospitals remain vacant.Malawi has three nurses per 10,000 people!

The high cost of training and studying fees is one of the barriers to nurses being trained in adequate numbers. I am grateful to Watipa for assisting me in this way.

After my diploma in nursing I have plans to continue with my studies to master’s level. From there on I will have a chance to run my own clinic within my community. I specifically want to help children under age 5.

Dalitso Mawina, Watipa scholar and young woman aged 23, Malawi