BIOGRAPHY UN VOLUNTEER IN MALAWI Bip Nandi (United Kingdom) Paediatric surgery is one of the smallest surgical specialities. Not only are our patients the smallest, but paediatric surgeons are a rare breed. When I arrived in Malawi, I became only the country’s second paediatric surgeon. I wanted to address this inadequacy and try to improve children’s surgery in Malawi. I remember my first day walking into the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, in Blantyre. Unfortunately I had taken the back entrance. The buildings were in a state of disrepair, a tree lay fallen in one of the corridors, having crashed through the roof. I have worked in a number of countries in the region, but had never seen such poor infrastructure in a central hospital. My initial concern eventually gave way to relief and a feeling of being lucky. Queen’s is a very special place to work. It is easy to linger on the problems, but if you look at the work the team achieves, it is very impressive. They treat about 500 major cases a year. Many are highly specialised surgeries, including surgery for large cancers and complex congenital abnormalities. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to be working here. As well as providing clinical services I have enjoyed training and setting exams for the medical students, clinical officers and residents. Our senior trainee in the department will hopefully become Malawi’s first Malawian paediatric surgeon. In an attempt to improve patient flow and safety we have developed a number of new protocols and pathways. Volunteerism should be more than a ‘gap-filler’. We must address systemic inefficiencies by bringing novel ideas and experience. Volunteerism embodies the ability to learn from each other. UNV has left an enduring change in me. I pray in some small way I will do the same for children’s surgery in Malawi.