Anna Müggler and Simona Schmid have been friends for a long time. And even though the two now live in different places in their professional lives, they share a common past and an interest in helping those in need.

Anna is a trained midwife and currently works in Freiburg, while Simona completed her training as a physiotherapist in 2020 and works in their home country of Switzerland.

When Simona told her friend about the idea of doing a humanitarian mission abroad some time ago, Anna was immediately enthusiastic and wanted to join her. Thanks to the midwife's connection to the Artemed Clinic in Freiburg, the two of them quickly came up with the idea of volunteering at Artemed Stiftung . As Simona favored Africa as a place to work anyway, our partner hospital in Nyangao(Tanzania), St. Walburg’s Hospital, was the obvious choice. In January 2024, the two of them were on assignment at the hospital.

Despite - or perhaps because of - some obstacles and challenging moments, the two talk about wonderful experiences that they would not want to miss.

The start was already a little bumpy, as Anna fell ill with severe pneumonia right at the beginning. Far away from home and without her usual medication, this was not an easy situation for the young woman. However, the presence of her friend and the touching care of the nursing staff on site made the time bearable and allowed her to recover quickly. She was soon able to help in the maternity ward as planned. The work there brought her great joy, although there were always cases that challenged her emotionally. However, it was precisely these cases that showed her how important the Foundation's voluntary work and support in the hospital is. For example, she reports that although the infant care already works quite well, there were still some areas where the medical success could be much better with simple measures. For example, in the resuscitation of infants. Although this often worked very well in the acute situation, further care was sometimes somewhat neglected. The midwife was able to intervene here with her experience from Germany and pass on valuable know-how.

Simona was particularly impressed by the gratitude and motivation of the local people: "It was so wonderful to see how grateful the people were. Even for the smallest things, they were so happy to be helped. Our colleagues there were also always very friendly and accommodating. I mainly helped out in the physiotherapy department. I was extremely positively surprised by the know-how and motivation of the staff there and I also learned a lot myself," she says in the interview.

For both of them, the stay was an unforgettable experience that helped them mature both personally and professionally and prepared them well for possible future assignments.

We would like to thank Anna and Simona for daring to take this first step in development work with us and wish them all the best for the future.