by Sr. Sheila Devane, MMM                                       Ireland                  20.06.2026

I want to describe one of the efforts of the School of Nursing in Dareda Hospital, Tanzania, to address by far the biggest health issue in their area – malaria – and of how they zealously tried to bring understanding and prevention of this immense public health issue to the people in their immediate locality.

The student nurses were receiving training in delivering appropriate health education to the patients in the hospital, to the relatives caring and cooking for them, to their own peers and to the parishioners. A decision was made to move out a little further to a place quite near the hospital from where a high percentage of the sickest patients came – a small market village – Dareda Kati.

The nurse tutor, Sr. Nuala Horgan, and her colleagues in the School of Nursing accepted the challenge and eagerly set about creating very large diagrams of the various bugs and micro-organisms that caused the most serious illnesses to patients brought into the hospital.
The diagrams could be proudly, but honestly, described as “world class.” They were large, detailed, delicately coloured and on large white cardboard that was covered in plastic to keep them clean. Indeed, they were pretty scary too!

On their first outing, three second year students – Clotilda, Theresia and Martha – went along to the village with Sr. Nuala herself, Tom a driver and plenty of the local tea in flasks and, of course, some lovely mandazis, the local donuts. They were met by a large crowd of people, some selling their own wares as it was a market, others returning from mass and many there having heard the announcement of this special health education event.

Clotilda and a companion assisting her got up on the back of the land rover – this was their stage and a very good one it proved to be! She took the loudspeaker and called the people. The teaching began. As she talked of a particular bug a suitable diagram of it was shown all around from the stage, then some people moved close, asked to have the diagram right in front of them and were duly assisted. All was going well.

Then Martha took to the stage, she was a native of that locality, greeted the people in the tribal language, they clapped; then she spoke in Swahili with a member of the audience quickly volunteering himself as interpreter! Her topic was malaria and she gave an impassioned presentation to a village where one could hear a pin drop. The traders stopped their work, moved over to the stage, and were captivated by what she said and by the splendid diagrams. They were truly magnificent. Everyone wanted to see them, touch them and some would come near and then turn away quickly in fright!

It is customary in Tanzania to thank people for their efforts so when Martha finished and came off the Land Rover an elderly man was helped up, a seat was supplied, he slowly sat down and looked attentively at the audience. He started by saying he hadn’t much to say – again as is customary there – and proceeded to talk for about fifteen minutes, maybe longer. He spoke in both languages, was most articulate and clearly had listened to every word said. He commended Sr. Nuala for her great work as a teacher reminding her that this was the most prized profession in Tanzania, to be called Teacher. He spoke of the great effort of the Sisters and nurses in coming to Dareda Kati, how they were so well equipped with a platform, loud-speaker, and diagrams and how well each one delivered her material. He talked of how the people all appreciated them and even stopped their normal business to listen and take note.

Then he stopped; the people knew he wasn’t finished; there was a pause, even a long pause, he fixed his hat on his head, looked around, and with a deep voice continued:

“I am old, so old I don’t know my real age, but I know I am old. I have lived here all my life.
I have seen people get sick and die of malaria and of many other diseases. But one thing I have never seen, and I believe no one has ever seen in Dareda Kati or maybe in all of Tanzania is a mosquito as big as the one we have just seen on that board. I want to say to the people here if this is the creature that causes the malaria to the people in this locality, we will be alright; our own mosquito found here is very small, smaller than my thumbnail, ah much smaller so we are all safe. We don’t have any mosquitos like this great big one! Amen”

There is always more to learn; every day is truly a school day.
What we hope to impart and how it is understood can be so different!
Our work in Primary Health Care has taught us all that valuable lesson many times over.
We continue.