Personal information

Name: Christopher Mbeko

Date of Birth: 03-10-1995

Country: Malawi

Study: Nursing [level: Degree]

Study information

Study: BSc in Nursing and Midwifery

Name of University: The Catholic University of Malawi

Location: Limbe, Montfort campus, Malawi

Start date: February, 2020

Expected graduation: 2024

Costs per year for iSTEPup: MWK 1,160,000.00 [€1109]

Donate for Christopher Mbeko ❤

Why I need the iSTEPup Foundation 

It would not be possible for me to achieve my dream without the help of iSTEPup. It would have been impossible. I am coming from a family of 12 were I am the fifth born. My mother died in 2002 when I was 6 and my father is still alive who does local farming for living.

In Malawi if someone has not gone to school, it’s hard to find a job as the unemployment rate is very high. That is a reason why I am doing school. This will make me possible to support myself as well as my family.

Due to increased disease burden in Malawi, I joined this profession with the aim of assisting the Malawi government in the fight to reduce the morbidity and mortality rate in the country through nursing and midwifery practice. I feel that upon completion I will be able to contribute to the nation health status of the people in my community. In addition, it’s my wish to work outside Africa in order to gain an extra knowledge on how to render the care to the people of different race.

For the past 2 years, I was on self-sponsorship in terms of paying my school fees and I was still facing challenges in raising school fees from my small business of selling clothes. Each and every month I was trying to pay whatever amount of money I earned from my business for my tuition, accommodations and cafeteria fees. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, it became hard for my business to work according to my expectations and that is the reason I experienced challenges in supporting myself financially regarding tuition accommodation and cafeteria fee etc.

The other fact is that, the university offering nursing in Malawi are very expensive, so I wouldn’t be able to pay my own fees.

After completing my degree level, I would also like to continue my education to master’s degree which is the highest grade of the program in the country.

Buddy 

Laura de Vries, Medical Doctor.

I will be the long-distance buddy for Chris in this project. Currently I am working as a doctor on the island of Aruba.

I met Chris during my tropical medicine internship in Malawi. I got to know him as a very motivated nurse. I am happy that with the help of the iStepUP program Chris will be able to achieve his goals.

– Bye! Laura

Gallery