Interview with Mrs. Inés Molina

On the morning of September 29 we were given the opportunity to interview Mrs. Inés Molina, an Argentine doctor currently living in Malawi, Africa who had plenty of experiences to share with us, and from which we could all learn. 

 

Professional/Academic life

            The first topic of many that we dealt with during Ms. Molina´s interview was her academic development; that is to say, how much effort she had to put into studying medicine, passing her master degree and, therefore, getting all the qualifications needed for her to be an exceptional doctor. She is a greatly qualified professional, speaks three languages (Spanish, English and French) and understands Italian, but she is unable to speak it. 

She began her career in Argentina, where she graduated from the medical school, but then she decided to travel to Europe, more specifically London, as she was eager to have more hands-on experience. She recommended living in London, as she described it as a beautiful city that perfectly fits the bachelor´s standard of life, whereas families with children find it difficult to live there; the reason why living there gets harder with the passing of years is that London is an expensive city.

Ines had been working in a hospital in London for five years when she enrolled for a course in Ireland in order to sit for her finals again (a British requirement needed if foreign doctors want to work in the United Kingdom for more than a five-year period). By the time she was doing her finals, she met the love of her life, with whom she would spend most of her life with. 

After passing her finals again and meeting her future husband, Ines ceased working at the hospital and, instead, she got a job in a borough, where she performed as a medical officer of health for nine years before they first travelled to Malawi. The reason for them to be in said country was simply because her husband had been offered a job there. However, they had planned to stay in Malawi only two years, but they were so amazed with the country's sights and culture that they decided to stay there indefinitely. 

 

African culture

After having lived nearly 50 years in Africa, she is still in love with everything the country involves. When asked about the hardest part of living there she could not come up with any complaint, although she did mention that sometimes they lost power due to stolen cables. Despite that, she constantly pointed out that the people living in Malawi were extremely helpful and friendly, both Africans and Europeans alike. 

Regarding religion, Inés explained that in Malawi people were originally protestants or musulmans. Nevertheless, with the constant inmigration fluid the country has people with different beliefs which coexist peacefully. However, what people from Malawi cannot understand is when people do not believe in anything at all, it comes as a shock to them.

One normal day for Inés starts at five in the morning and from nine to twelve she goes to the hospital. She used to work longer hours but now she does not have the physical conditions to do it.  In the afternoon she goes shopping and then just enjoys staying outside and connecting with the nature that surrounds her. She described her neighbours as very sociable, which is what she most likes about the country. 

In a part of the interview, we talked about poverty in Africa and we asked her if this issue affected her work as a doctor. At first, when she had just moved, she sometimes found people at her doorstep asking for medicines. Unfortunately, it was illegal to help them outside the hospital so there was nothing she could do. 

Finally, we asked her if she recommended Malawi as a place to live and she explained that we needed a job to do so because Malawi was currently overcrowded and it was not as easy as it seems.What is more, if you reside there for some time, you can ask for the temporary residency that allows you to be in Malawi for 6 months and after that you can ask for a permanent residency. 

 

Experience in Malawi

We asked about what she thought of malawi when she saw it for the first time. She said that the people and the place was nice and the people were really friendly. She told us that when she was trying to get a nap in the month of October she couldn't do it because of the weather, it was always very hot, Because in october our spring is their summer, and it affected them a lot.

When we asked about the animals in the lake, she told us about the leopards and hyenas in her garden. Formerly, her daughter wanted to have a rabbit, but the leopards ended up eating the rabbit, and she was really mad about that. 

She told us that when she arrived in Malawi, they brought a dog from england. And the neighbors were kind to them about that.

She lives in a place near of the Rift Valley, in a zone with hills, she said “Like córdoba”

It is difficult for her to maintain customs, because her husband is English and they don't pay attention to that, she said that she still cooks “Milanesas and pucheros”.

 

Coronavirus in Africa

The pandemic affected in África, as well as anywhere else in the world. Similarly to Argentina, while Africans used to go twice a week to the shop, nowadays they do not go so much, usually once a week. They use masks for going everywhere, and without doubt they wash, disinfect and sanitize their hands.

Although it is not compulsory to wear masks, if citizens go to a shop without one, within the shops they offer masks that people can buy.

This article has been written by ROJO POLERO Delfina, GASTALDO María, REARTE Francisco, GARCEA Belén, RICCI Manuel, RUIZ Athina,  and TITO Martín