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While the international instructors were on their way home after a successful but frankly exhausting week of instructor development and training, Grace was busy preparing to teach 24 healthcare professionals on their next NCC. This course will take the number of nurses, doctors and midwives trained in newborn care in Cameroon to nearly 400. 2 extra people turned up from the local government facility, having heard on the grapevine that the course was going on.

All the instructors also teach resuscitation skills to staff in their own healthcare facilities. As Grace says “before, when there was a sick baby born, people were running in all directions [to get away from it]. Now people run towards the delivery area to try and resuscitate the baby.” As Jarlath says (Irish retired paediatrician and senior instructor with NICHE), “give people the confidence to give something a go, and the competence will naturally follow” because people have a driving need to do things better.

Maslow opined that humans would want to develop themselves and move on up his pyramid if the lower levels of needs were satisfied. That certainly seems to be the case in Cameroon.

The somewhat incongruous paper strawberries hanging from the ceiling in a lot of the pictures from the last fortnight are left over from the teaching facility having been used for a party last month! We had a similar situation in Liberia in 2019 when we taught under a ceiling full of withered brown and yellow balloons and didn’t really notice until the photos came out. They don’t seem to detract from the learning.

Alison gave out the certificates of achievement at the end of the 2-day generic instructor course. 2024 marks her 20th year as a volunteer in Cameroon, initially with MCAI charity and for the last 7 years with NICHE International. This is probably the last time she will come in person to Cameroon and we thanked her for her long service to the country – from overseeing the building of a playroom in Bamenda which enticed the children with HIV into their clinic, to the establishment of a breast milk bank in the same hospital, to the training of healthcare professionals in newborn care and now the support of a 28-strong Cameroonian teaching faculty. Alison continues as the lead trustee of NICHE International in the UK.

Our newest trustee, Dr Cath Harrison, and Dr Julia Thomson were speaking at the ALSG conference yesterday.

Maslow is often quoted in adult learning circles – he developed his hierarchy of needs over 30 years from 1940 to 1970, believing strongly that humans want to grow and develop themselves and others and that – once our deficiency needs are met – we will automatically move up the pyramid. We spoke about the importance of feeding everyone properly on a course (Physiological needs) and ensuring everyone feels part of the team (Belonging and Love Needs) and valued (Esteem Needs). Only then will learners start tending to their own Cognitive Needs (engaging with the Neonatal Care Course), formulate plans to apply their learning (Aesthetic Needs), become instructors themselves (Self-Actualisation) and feel the buzz of teaching others for the good of all babies in their country (Transcendence).