By Mickness Mtete
Form four students from Michiru girls private secondary school on Monday 28 November 2022 visited laboratories at Malawi Blood Transfusion Services (MBTS) in Blantyre to deepen their academic knowledge on blood transfusion.
The students were guided by their Life Skills teacher, Chancy Mhone who underscored the need of such visits saying they help students to explore new practical knowledge in their studies.
MBTS stuff member with Michiru students
Speaking after the tour, Mhone expressed delight with the educational visit attributing it to being an effective method of teaching and learning. “Learning by observation help learners to understand the concepts easily as compared to mere explanation. He further said that he has more knowledge than before which will be shared to other teachers at the school”, he said.
After the visit the group graduated into a club at their school as one way of facilitating transit of information related to blood donation and transfusion at the institution. According to Mhone, he pledged to ensure that the club is sustained like any other authorized clubs at the school. On their part, students who participated in the visit were overwhelmed with joy as they acquired new knowledge essential for their education. One of the students, Eliza Zakaliya, vowed to start donating blood after appreciating the importance of blood transfusion. She said the visit helped her to understand the science behind donating blood which she was considering as a myth before visiting MBTS laboratories. “I have learnt that one unit of blood can save three or four lives as some patients do not need to be transfused with whole blood, a reasonable number of patients are in lack of a particular blood component”, said Zakaliya. Another student, Grace Mofolo, said the visit will help improve her class perfomance. “Now I can confidently face any question on blood transfusion not only in Life Skills but also in Biology examinations because I have gained more information in this field, Mofolo said.
Speaking on behalf of MBTS, Laboratory Assistant for Odala Center, Conforzi Madulira thanked Michiru Girls Secondary School for the visit. He said the tour would help to end misconceptions around blood donation and transfusion among young people. Madulira further said the visit created more donors and mobilisers for the organisation. “As MBTS, we believe that these students will help to convey blood transfusion messages to the masses especially after they transition from secondary school to the adult population. This is a plus to us and of course a way to go in our publicity efforts”, said Madulira.
Mr Madulira addressing students
During the visit, the students were enlightened on the fact that most of whole blood donations are spun in centrifuges to separate it into transfusable components: red blood cells, cryo, platelets, and plasma. And that the components are transfused to patients according to their respective transfusion need.
Apart from finding answers to the transfusion topic’s questions, the students were inspired by the employees to work hard in class so as to contribute positively to the development of the country.