Marmalade Sunsets: Josh Nesbit of Mobiles for Malawi gives me a wake up call

It happened within a fraction of a second. I had put my bag down to chat with some friends at a local bar one night and it felt as if my phone literally climbed out of my handbag and sprinted towards the other side of the room…stolen…and just like that, I was now completely disconnected from my email, text messaging, phone calls, voice mail, the internet, my calendar, GPS navigation, my news blogs, Facebook, Twitter and even my alarm clock! I felt completely vulnerable and stripped of my communication arteries...how in this world was I going to reach everyone! Fortunately, my phone through a miraculous act of the universe found its way back to me, but the ordeal of complete isolation from the global community left me pondering how most of the world perseveres with unquestionable limited communication streams. How is a young mother living in a remote rural village getting crucial medical advice on critical vaccinations for her newborn son…how is this young mother’s elderly and ill father able to manage his current Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis condition with medical staff hundreds of miles from his community…how does the community health care worker know when to make the 100 mile walk from the clinic to the village to ensure that their patient is receiving vital medication…until an individual like Josh Nesbit makes a decision that he will no longer see thousands of rural villagers desolate and marooned, and pioneers a text messaging program called FrontlineSMS to assist rural Malawians seeking urgent medical needs.

Josh’s colorful story is very much riveting. His compelling personality met with local villagers in Namitete, Malawi in the summer of 2007 where he grew impassioned with the delightful culture of local Malawians while volunteering at a local hospital. His fixation for wanting to understand the sufferings of the people of Namitete, his adoration for the selfless health care professionals who are dedicated to walking end-of-the-rainbow distances to see patients, his desire to give something back to these soft-spoken people whom he had come to love so much, ignited him, as they allowed him to know himself from an enriching and completely different perspective. Josh realized fairly early that he had the ability to initiate a communication system which would equip local villages with the relevant tools to communicate their current medical needs with central clinics and was not shy when adventuring into potential solutions.

He half jokes as he tells me how he and Ken Banks, a software specialist, literally sat under a tree one afternoon as they developed the concept of assimilating a software program which would allow community health workers in remote villages to send a text message regarding patients' medical conditions to an SMS hub at a central clinic, letting clinicians respond via the software (FrontlineSMS); therein, saving the remote health worker a possible 100 mile walk or bike ride to report a patient’s status. This life-saving technology is not only alleviating unfathomable conditions from being undiagnosed in remote areas, but is also empowering local health care volunteers with the capacity to contribute something of themselves back to the communities they have lived in throughout their lives.

The eminence of this technology has spread to clinics and hospitals throughout Central and East Africa, and is currently been adopted in countries such as Malawi, Bangladesh, Honduras, India, Rwanda and Cameroon. Future projects are in the process of being implemented in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Guatemala, Mali, Burundi and several others. Without a doubt, this technology would not have prospered into the success it is today were it not for the devoted and warmhearted health care workers who volunteer their time in streamlining communication links between patients and central clinics. Their monumental achievements have drawn much media attention as more NGO’s and organizations are utilizing this technology in administering communication systems in very inaccessible areas.

Right now, Josh and his team are currently seeking any cell phone donations for those of you who are interested in recycling your cell phones. If so, you could reach Josh at josh.nesbit@jopsa.org or go into their website at http://www.jopsa.org

If I think about it, not having my cell phone for one night was not entirely delirious. It has at least given me a new appreciation for my pocket sized companion.

To watch our video interview, please see http://www.travelvolunteersearch.blogspot.com
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