The push down experts

Have you ever worked with a person who does nothing but push you down, bring you down and try all the forms of bringing you down????.... I worked with some few.  I even decided to call them the push down experts because all what they do is try to come up with tactics to bring others down.

I thank God that I was raised in a society and home that taught me to bring the best out of others. And it real pays off to know that I did x and x for someone and now they are out there making a difference. I just wonder what the push down experts benefit from bringing others down. Do they rise to the top…. Well, maybe they do… but if they do, then they do it by pushing others down.  And they should know one day those people will rise the professional way and pass their level.

Anyway… I don’t real care about the push down experts, because there are a lot of people out there who are willing to help others and bring the best out of them. And I cross the path of such many people and I am grateful for their assistance. And like they say…. don’t mind about someone pushing you down. You could learn a few things from such an experience that can make you even stronger. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and the grass is greener at the other side!

Be blessed Namibians…. People of the land of the brave!

 

The Blaming Game

It’s the ministry of Health's fault??? Who is the Ministry of Health hano naana? Is it the Minister, the PS, the managers, the directors, the nurses, doctors…. Or who are we referring to here?

I am seriously tired of complaints, complaints and complaints, which are aimed at blaming problems and challenges on other people or the system. Let me take an example of my line of work: Public Health. The public health system here in Namibia is complex.  And one would wonder why it is complex if we are only serving a population of about 2.5 million. Well, the population is about 2.5 million, but the land is just too huge leaving people spread all over 800 000 square kilometers. And worse Namibia is a resource limited country facing some serious challenges that can hinder health care provision. Those are such as lack of infrastructures, shortage of human resources etc.

Can you imagine having a Minister of Health or Permanent Secretary sitting in his office in Windhoek and is expected to solve challenges being experienced at a health facility in Zambezi region which is about 1300 Kilometers away????? Amazing right! But ideal the top officials are just supposed to provide technical assistance in decision making and other issues such as policies or rules. But that does not seem to be the case. Go to a facility and ask why certain things are happening and then you are told “it’s the minister’s fault”. And every once in a while you see the minister running from regions to regions to address challenges such as cholera outbreaks or maternal death cases. What are the directors and the managers in the so “respective regions” doing? Where are the epidemiologists who are supposed to be in control of such outbreaks of disease? Shouldn’t they be the ones running around in the regions and updating the Minister of Health??? Maybe we need to re-visit our staff establishment and ensure that regions are fully equipped with capacity which can handle the decentralized health care systems.

I am glad I had a chance to work at both levels of the health care system. And believe me each and every level in the health care system has its own challenges and reason to blame others. The lower levels such as facility level are blaming the district level. The district is blaming the regional level while the regional level is blaming the National level. And the national level is blaming the decision makers, or the lower level which in this case will be the regional level. And this blaming game is bi-directional. This leaves one to wonder who is real at fault in our health care system.

One of the most things that seem to be misused in the health care system blaming game is “shortage of staff” or lack of time. We know that shortage of staff has been there forever and is not a challenge that one can address overnight. You need to invest in educating nurses, doctors and other staffs needed in the health care system for about 10 – 20 years before you can see the change. But the question I ask people is .... “what is the little thing that you can do to address the shortage of staff?" So now you will just sit back and blame everything on shortage of staff? We need to change our mindset and move away from the blaming game to see how we can use the little we have in an efficient way and provide health care to our people. And like one of the professors from University of Namibia once told me, “time is fixed and can never change – we have 24 hours in a day- what one can do is manage your time in an efficient way”.  

I am public health worker and believe that our health care system in Namibia will change one day if we change our mindset and think positively.

I love Namibia – our land of the brave!

Homemade Toys

Who said one has to spent moola (money) to have fun? I came across this two lovely children having fun with toys that did not even cost their parents a single cent. And I thought let me write about this. And perhaps this will bring me back to my blog that I have been neglecting for months now.

Picture number 1: this little girl is using a metal recycled from a bicycle wheel to play. Isn’t she amazing? She is lovely and she is surely enjoying that toy and is having fun.

 

Picture number 2: this boy is just too amazing! Just look at him. Does he look like a happy kid having fun? He does! And the parents spent zero because the cart he is sitting in was recycled from a water container that was used to collect water at some point.  And his brother is pulling him while he is holding on to make sure he doesn't fall. Amazing!

 

This is what I call innovation and I don’t need to say much. And the photos were taken in the northern part of Namibia of course! Land of the brave… I love you Namibia!