2024
Dear Doctors for Mozambique foundation,
I hope this letter finds you in good health and high spirits. It is with immense gratitude and a profound sense of appreciation that I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks for the invaluable support and assistance you have provided me throughout my academic journey at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Catholic University of Mozambique.
As a recipient of the scholarship sponsored by Doctors for Mozambique, I am deeply honored and privileged to have been selected to benefit from your generous contributions. Since the inception of my studies in 2017, your unwavering commitment to fostering the education and development of aspiring medical professionals has had a profound and lasting impact on my life.
Reflecting on my journey thus far, it is evident that the path to realizing my aspirations has been marked by both triumphs and challenges. From the excitement and anticipation of embarking on this transformative journey to the unforeseen obstacles and adversities encountered along the way, each experience has served to shape and mold me into the resilient and determined individual I am today.
The year 2017 marked the commencement of my academic pursuits, as I embarked on the rigorous and demanding curriculum of the Faculty of Health Sciences. With the guidance and support of esteemed faculty members and the unwavering backing of Doctors for Mozambique, I eagerly embraced the opportunities for learning and growth that lay ahead.
However, as fate would have it, the ensuing years brought with them a series of unprecedented challenges that tested my resolve and perseverance in ways I could never have imagined. The devastation wrought by natural disasters such as Cyclone Idai and the ensuing humanitarian crises that followed left an indelible mark on our community, disrupting the normalcy of everyday life and threatening the fabric of our society.
Furthermore, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 introduced a new set of challenges that brought the world to a standstill, compelling us to adapt and evolve in the face of uncertainty and adversity. The sudden transition to remote learning modalities and the temporary suspension of in-person classes posed significant challenges, requiring a level of resilience and adaptability that I had not anticipated.
Despite the myriad challenges and obstacles encountered along the way, I am pleased to report that my determination and unwavering commitment to academic excellence have remained steadfast. While the initial timeline for completing my medical studies may have been extended due to the unforeseen disruptions caused by external factors, I am resolute in my resolve to persevere and overcome any obstacles that stand in my way.
Looking ahead, I am excited about the opportunities that lie on the horizon and the prospect of contributing meaningfully to the healthcare landscape of Mozambique. With the continued support and guidance of esteemed mentors and the unwavering backing of Doctors for Mozambique, I am confident that I will emerge from this journey as a competent and compassionate healthcare professional, equipped with the knowledge, skills, and expertise necessary to make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of those in need.
In closing, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to Doctors for Mozambique for their unwavering support and commitment to the education and development of aspiring medical professionals like myself. Your generosity has not only afforded me the opportunity to pursue my dreams but has also instilled within me a profound sense of gratitude and responsibility to give back to my community and pay it forward for future generations.
2023
To: The DFM foundation and Contributors
At first I want to send my greetings, and say that I have been in good health in general, despite of some episodes of common and light interferences. Now in fifth year of medicine course. In this year we do our studies in a hospital environment and these are grouped in sections of medical specialities called rotations, in a number of 4 named: Surgical, Gynecology & Obstetrics, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. With a period of 10 weeks each. The examination process is composed of 2 different parts: 1- activities and reports done during the rotation period and 2- oral examination part, applied after each rotation.
By now we have finished the rotation activities and done the oral exams of 2 of them and still have the rest pending. I could pass the 2 done and we are still on wait of the other classification results of the activities of the rotations.
I achieved much experience throughout the studying year, though not easy. Have to relate documented information to the reality have not been a simple work. At the same moment training medical skills that include initial evaluation of a patient, knowing the prior data and request it at a right moment to posterior identify the problem, and some interventions such as suturing, fluids collections, catheterization and many more.
In hospital environment students must have material resources: medical kit of vital signs assessment as stethoscope and thermometer, that are long term used objects and others that are disposable after use as masks and protective gloves. Added to this increasing of some needs, we are in a country with unstable economic status, which is a factor that contribute to the difficulties faced with the students in general.
I recognize by then the aid given each year by the foundation in order to grant us some support and empowerment so that we can have our problems reduced and later on put our effort to the studies. Therefore I finally want to express my gratitude for all the attention and accompaniment that we receive from the DFM foundation through Dr. Gitta and the husband.
With the best salutations,
Paidamoyo Mutane Sithole
2022
Salutations to the DFM foundation…!
I used this opportunity to give the report of my fourth year first saying that it was a hard although it had one of the easiest blocks to me, 4.4. The most difficult were 4.7 and 4.6 which approach about emergency cases. The 4.1 had a kind of topics that were very abroad therefore it wasn’t easy to know what were our priorities, consequently difficult to select the bibliography. I learned many things in fact. I was being prepared to attend either adults or children and learning to select the information needed when I am in front of a patient. Differentiating from the third year, many things were pratical therefore easy to memorize. By now I’m waiting anxiously for the fifth year where I’ll be learning in hospital environment I expect to achieve a solidified knowledge and get the best experience to use in my career in future.
The best thing I would wish to do at this moment is to express my gratitude for every effort that has been made by all who are working with the foundation on helping me on my journey. Wishing you the best…
Yours faithfully………
Paidamoyo Mutane Sithole.
2021:
Greetings to DFM Donors, I hope you’re all doing well. Here, I’m fine!
For now, I’d like to let you informed and be aware of how had I been proceeding with my 3rd year medical course at UCM in 2020 and the first part of 2021. Indeed, the year 2020 had many challenges, some of them I didn’t believe that I could be able to get over. The year began frightening from the start, this was because of the changes of the level of studies in terms of the content and focus. In 1st and 2nd year we were studying normal functioning of the human body and from then our focus in the 3rd year was on abnormal conditions and how to manage them, what was new to me. But I had some hope that I could overcome as we have many students passing through that same matter.
Readily during the couping moment we were forced to stop because of the pandemic state of COVID-19 from the third month of 2020. I didn’t know what to do because it was an unexpected occurrence. The faculty introduced online studies. Well, first, my conditions were making many things difficult to make the proper accompany of the school activities. It was necessary to have some funds for data bundles, my devices were not able to bear because of their low capacity, without mentioning the networks weaknesses in our country. So sometimes I lost the lessons, sometimes I just had few minutes of the lesson’s beginning and sometimes I was not possible to hear this voice of the lecture. Other issue was related to the examination process. We didn’t have any exam at the time of the state of emergency. We had them after the announcement of possibility of regression to school. So we had to have two weeks instead of six for the examination preparation, what was very hard.
By the way I could learn many things in all that: instead of becoming hopeless I understood that we have to know that even unexpected problems exist and whatever this can be, my fight has to be on finding how to withstand the challenges. It was not easy but it was possible. I am in the 4th year now and I promise to give my best.
Lastly, I would like to thank you because I know that this incident has affected the majority of countries and maybe all world wide and I’m sure that you also have great challenges, and despite of the situations you continue being by our side, giving us support and encouragement!! Paidamoyo M. Sithol
2020:
Dear DFM coordinators, founders and other members!
I used this opportunity to send my greetings to you. I also need to thank you for the aid that is continuously given to me. This is a mini report of how my second year of medicine course occurred. The year had eight modules (blocks/subjects), seven of them were theory and the eighth (block 2.6) was practical learned at a designated health center. So a new form of studying was introduced, were I passed through three sections of Maternal-Infant Health. It was, as such, a slight vision of what the medical profession is. In fact, it was not easy work to perform, but it needed a certain flexibility to be engaged in that environment.
I was obligated to assume a learner position in front of nurses and other experienced professional health workers and not that habitual one, of the university field so that I could learn something. In addition, it was so marvelous to do a brief accompany of pregnant women, receive someone who is coming to the earth by first time, and other activities. The block 2.7 (following) was interesting too. In first and second years of the course, the students learn the normal functioning of the human body but this block was an unexpected exception.
It approached abnormal conditions, especially those related to the old age, and the ways of managing them (including possible treatment, if necessary). It became an introduction to the third and fourth years, were the approach is around abnormal conditions. Indeed, in all blocks, I could get something new, but these two situations appear to be much relevant to me during the second year because of how they were organized. The organization of the rest did not make a great difference from that I faced in the first year. The other point I would like to mention has to do with the incident that took place in Mozambique on 15th of March 2019 (last year). Many suffered a lot from cyclone known by name IDAI; goods, houses, stoks; almost everything was destroyed beside people who lost their lives. Our family members, neighbors, even us were in a sad time.
That affected our social, health and economic conditions. People fought each other, products’ prizes raised and problems such as cholera were installed. In the middle of that situation, you did not measure your energy, your time and other wastes to show your love to us. I felt happy to know that you were not only to attend our school necessities but you also took the fraternal side extending your hands to us in order to re-raise and look ahead to our battle. Your action made me understand that you are not there exactly because of my conditions (like poverty) but for my feelings. In my opinion “a person is formed by two parts: a physical and an emotional”.
For me, the wellbeing of someone is not only based on being strong without any pain or wound but also needs for one to have mental peace, motivation and other psychological factors. Moreover, I could notice that you care with my emotions, which makes up my psychological health. I am not aware of how am I going to express my gratefulness.
Yours faithful: PAIDAMOYO M. SITHOLE
2018:
My greetings to you all the donors of the Doctors for Mozambique(DFM) Foundation on one of the most important period of my course.
The Mozambican Catholic University adopted, in its curriculum, a year that proportions the initial studies to the medicine course therefore the year give the previous preparation to the students so that they can start it with a certain notion of what are they going to face during the course and it provides the English lessons in the majority of the time whereas the medical profession need to be executed by someone who is able to attend different types of people. So it was a pleasure to attend the propedeutic year(in 2017) for my first time in the capacity as the future Medical Doctor.
During the year, I achieved much experience from the studies. I could develop some abilities to manage my routine on my own, trying to divide the time in order to attend all the subjects that are held by the faculty. “I know that this will help me in the future, in the execution of my profession”. One of my weak points was so notable in subjects such as “Portuguese Language Use” because I learnt to speak Portuguese later than many students of the faculty and I was good at those that involve calculations like “Mathematics”, meaning that incase of subjects as “Ethics” I managed to read much so I could understand the situation in which I was involved and stabilized my studies. At sometimes I just wanted the explanation from the lecture and fixed it in my mind. I had that capacity especially at “Informatics” and that helped me to cover my time with other activities. Few time was needed for a little revision of the topic.
Beyond the part that hold only the propedeutic year I had the opportunity to looked forward the year ahead (1st year ) of the course before I could be part of it observing, in this way, its exigencies and had a mini psychological preparation besides the awareness of some terms and other things used in medicine area.
In contrast, after a certain research and development, I understood that the propedeutic year is a sort of personal selection of the students that are judged capable of doing the course. Whilst the education system and the progress of the student depends more on him or her personally, the faculty received about 400 students. And it wasn’t really possible to let all of them do the course in case of passing the tests and exams elaborated because of the lake of tutors and tutorial rooms to support that very enormous number of students in the first, second, third… years so using the logic the University might take cover in order to choose a limited number to do the course. When I realized that, I thought on tactics that I would use so that in the process of selection of those who had the opportunity to enter the course I could be in at least the first ten to be chosen. And that wasn’t easy.
Anyway, I passed the year!!!!! Ufffffff!!!!!!
I succeeded, finally.
I also noticed the presence of some people walking around me, the group of senior students with glaring experience. I received so many advises from them and that was valuable. I remember some of the phrases saying: “Try to follow the rhythm of your lecture, don’t quarrel with your lecturer. If there’s something wrong humbleness is necessary…”, I used this and many lecturers considered me a calm, respectful, and humble student.
So I like to thank you as organization that permits us (who enter the faculty for the first time) to achieve and improve our abilities with the help of other colleagues as well as for the empowerment to deal with the very difficult situation we faced during the initial period of medicine.
Thank you!!!!
PAIDAMOYO MUTANE SITHOLE
2017
My name is Paidamoyo Mutane Sithole. I was born on 15 March 1995 in Harare district, Zimbabwe. My father was born at Machaze district and my mother at Mossurize, both are from Manica province, Mozambique. I began my school in 2001 at Glenview & primary and I continued studying up to 2004 at the same school. That year, I finished my grade 4. Because of disagreements between my parents I lost the opportunity to do grade 5 in the following year, 2005. In that year my father married his second wife and he left us. At that time my mother abducted us without the knowledge of my father to her mother’s home (my grandmother) in order to get settled in a new school. That doesn’t mean that my father was not supporting us. But unfortunately he died July 17, 2006 when I was in grade 6 in Gwenzi Primary School under Chipinge district. Both my mother and my grandmother helped me and I kept doing my primary school in Zimbabwe which I completed in the following year. As a result of the consideration of the inadequacy of funding to carry on with secondary school my mother came to the solution to transfer me and my sisters to a Mozambican school where I had to do a step back and entered grade 5. That was at Mude primary school in Mossurize district and I finished the resting 2 years of primary level at Chaiva primary. In the first three years of secondary level (2011-2013) I was studying at Joaquim Alberto Secondary School. My mother died in September 22 when I was almost finishing my grade 10. By that moment my grandmother was very old and she was not able to give me and the rest of my sisters financial assistance so my uncle (brother of my mother) welcomed us and I finished my grade 11 and 12 at Teresa Amuli Secondary School. Being a doctor one day was my dream. That increasingly strengthened when I was growing up and confronting different grievances. I tried to do a faculty last year, 2016, but that didn’t work out because I was underprivileged. Now I am one of the students that are being bolstered by the doctors for Mozambique Foundation. For all this praised and hard work I would like to convey a sense of gratitude because I am seeing that it is of a great avail to me. Thank you