A 20-year-old Biomedical Sciences student who contracted malaria while volunteering at an orphanage in Nigeria has pledged to pursue a career working with disadvantaged children in third world countries.
Aoibhin McCool, from Enniskillen, recently spent 12 weeks in Kwali, Nigeria, living in a house where rats and scorpions scuttled around her room while she slept in a mosquito net.
During her time in the African town, the final year Queen’s University student was appalled to see impoverished disabled children lying on the floor of the orphanage, while staff stepped over them and prioritised the able-bodied children at meal times. She was upset when she saw staff wearing clothes the volunteers had managed to convince a local church to donate to the children in the orphanage.
“It’s already known that Nigeria is a corrupt country so there was limited action I could take or things I could say without getting myself into trouble with certain people in the community, such as the owners of the orphanage, so we decided to focus on making the children’s time enjoyable whilst we were there,” said Aoibhin.
“You see how bad it is when you are out there. I lived in a house with no electricity, we got water from a tap outside and the only food ever in the house was a massive yam beside a gas cylinder. I got malaria and countless stomach infections.
“The orphanage is so badly run. I voiced my concerns on my final day but I felt it was dangerous to say too much so I plan to follow up what I saw through official channels,” she continued.
“I think the most significant impact we made was removing the massive divide between the community and orphanage,” said Aoibhin who was heartened one day to see three little boys going into the orphanage to play football with the children.
In addition to her work at the orphanage, Aoibhin helped educate the community on health-related tips such as hygiene lessons (including female menstrual hygiene), basic first aid, and family planning methods. She also attended post-natal clinics and helped to deliver a baby.
“The hardest part was having to accept I couldn’t just take them all home and give them a better life,” she said.
“The last evening I spent in Kwali was probably the toughest, saying all the goodbyes to the orphans. 
“But I saw how they had all come out of their shells and were reaching out to me instead of holding their hands up in defence when I first met them. That made the whole experience meaningful,” Aoibhin continued, adding; “I witnessed poverty on levels I never knew could exist. I think when you look on TV and see a kid helpless on the ground barley breathing you tell yourself you would go to the ends of the world to save them but when you are there in the moment you honestly do feel helpless and you realise you can’t save them but what you can do is comfort them.”
She also provided practical help by convincing children who were scared to have their fingers pricked as part of a rapid malaria test to undergo the procedure, with many subsequently being diagnosed as having the parasite in their system. “That was a rewarding time for me,” she said.
“Having met so many children with every reason to be sad but instead having amazing ambitions in life telling me what they want to be when they are older touched me and made me feel that I never have the right to be pessimistic in life again,” she commented.
Currently back at university, Aoibhin cannot let go of what she witnessed. She concluded: “I’m not content just coming back to my comforts and studying again. The experience has made me want to work in a medical capacity with children overseas.”