Nedbank executive in sleepover challenge
Touched by the hardships mothers go through during child bearing at most public health centres in the country, a Blantyre-based bank executive is tonight going to spend a night at Chilomoni hospital in the city.
Forty-four-year-old Wezi Chavula, who is Nedbank Blantyre branch manager, said she has had the idea for some time and it is a great accomplishment that she is finally doing it.
She said: “I may have been lucky to have given birth to all my three kids at private hospitals in town but I’ve always been disturbed to learn from the papers what my fellow mothers experience at public institutions. Therefore, my going there will not only enable me get some firsthand experience in this regard, but will also empower me to amplify the voices calling for improved services at the same.”
The sleepover challenge, a brainchild of Nation Publications Limited (NPL), is part of the Mother’s Fun Run initiative.
The sleepovers are meant to raise awareness of maternal and neonatal challenges that rock the country’s health service delivery system and in turn help mobilize funds to mitigate such challenges.
Chavula’s gesture is in line with what other women executives are doing by volunteering to spend a night at various Ntchisi health centres as part of this year’s Mother’s Fun Run which seeks to raise funds for the purchase of various medical supplies for Ntchisi District Hospital and its health centres to help ease maternal health challenges in the district.
She however, would be doing it alone, unlike the other executives who tend to draw others into it for company. She said she did not have adequate time to convince her peers and would feel bad “ambushing them at the eleventh hour just to live my dream”.
She added: “Logistically, it would have been a challenge for me to travel to Ntchisi just for the experience, much as I would have loved to. I’m glad the media house has still seen the quest in me to help raise the funds for our poor mothers. I hope it works out.”
