The Mothers that Thunder: Maternal Health in rural Zambia

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Monday, November 7, 2011 | 5 photos

I chose to do my last internship for my nursing degree in Africa, more specifically in Zambia. With the right grades and the initiative to organize the placement yourself, the School of Nursing at McGill University allows its students to do their final stage almost anywhere in the world. For five weeks I worked in a rural health clinic 45 minutes outside the town of Livingstone. I took with me my second-hand Canon Digital Rebel and Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. What resulted was a trip of a lifetime that impacted me both personally and professionally.
I think photography and nursing are very complimentary professions. Often nurses act as advocates for the very patients they care for, and I have found no better way than to open people's eyes with photos. Never was I standing in the mud huts I worked in solely from an observers perspective. I cared for each and every subject in my photos. In a world today where photography walks the fine line of newsworthy and perversion of privacy, nursing gives me the natural sense to care for a subject/patient before taking a photo, just as one chooses a treatment for them, doing so in the best interest of the person in front of you.
Choosing 5 photos to convey ONE of the many stories I witnessed unfold in front of my eyes was very challenging indeed. To keep with the theme of journalism and relevancy, the final 5 photos depict maternal health in rural Zambia. These are intimate photos showing the small ways that people contribute to the UN's Millennium Development Goals everyday.
I breathe nursing and love photography. This trip gave me hope that one day I could somehow combine the two professions, so that I could share my unique perspective with the world, and share the incredible stories of coping I see everyday.