The Story of Thomas Mafunga

My name is Thomas Mafunga and I am 22 years old. Despite a difficult start in life, I managed to get high grades on my secondary school exams and was selected to the Malawi College of Medicine.

I am lucky because I am doing the course which is my first choice and it is PHYSIOTHERAPY. This course deals with treatment without drugs. It is a new course which has just been introduced in 2010 and our class is the second one since the introduction of the course. It involves interventions such as giving advice on limb movements to make sure muscles are working and growing properly which is so important in recovery after medical or surgical treatment.

I like this course because there is a direct relationship with patients. All my life, I have been dreaming of helping people here in Malawi. Physios are so needed in Malawi because there are many cases which are simple and could be dealt with by physios. Unfortunately there are only a few physios compared to the high demand, so I think working in this profession will help keep a lot of Malawians healthy. This also helps to support other needy people around them, such as orphans and old people. There are a lot of old people and orphans in Malawi who needs help, so this is a way to help them. 

I will study well now I have a REACH scholarship. Before the REACH scholarship, I was spending much time thinking about how to deal with financial problems, which was having a very negative effect on my performance. Now I am going to work extra hard to achieve my best; to be one of the best physios in Malawi.