Schools

MHS Student to Spend Winter Vacation Doing Aid Work in Malawi

Matthew Zinck will join a team of medical professional and other students on an aid mission to this underserved, tiny nation in southern Africa.

senior Matthew Zinck is really looking forward to winter break in February, but it's not because he wants to sleep late, ski or head to a warm beach. 

Zinck will be part of a small team of doctors, medical students and a couple of high school students who will trek to the tiny African country of Malawi—wedged tightly between Zambia and Mozambique—to help set up a medical clinic and administer care and teach good public health practices to the poverty-stricken people there.

This will be Zinck’s second such trip. Last year, he joined a similar group, also led by Dr. Brian Lisse, to Nicaragua. To go there, he had to take two tests—one in Spanish—as part of a competitive field of students who wanted to go. He won the competition and, as a result, got to go on the trip for free.

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While in Nicaragua, Zinck and his team worked with community leaders in a moderate-size village, learning what the issues were and working together to come up with solutions. He had a stream for a bathtub. He helped the villagers make fertilizer. He acted as a triage person for the scores of people who would walk as much as three miles to see the doctors, then have to wait for hours because there were so many in line ahead of them.

Most of their medical issues were lifestyle related, Zinck said. So, in addition to administering medical care, the group helped the Nicaraguans understand the importance of avoiding dehydration, for example.

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“When I heard about the trip (to Nicaguara), it sounded so interesting,” Zinck told the members of the Marlborough Rotary Club on Jan. 19. “But it was more than that. It was life changing. It affected what I wanted to do in the future. I want a career in medicine.”

“If you take medical students to a place that’s underserved, they are more likely to practice in an underserved area, within the United States or not,” Lisse said. 

This year’s trip will be different, and not just geographically. This time Zinck needs to raise the money to go to Malawi; airfare to southern Africa is not cheap. Additionally, the area and the people will be new to these services—the group had been to Nicaragua several times. There will be language barriers as well.

For two weeks Zinck, Lisse and their colleagues will help set up emergency services, work at the local hospital, help develop mobile medical services, and work with a public health nurse. Additionally, there is an orphanage there for children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS that needs their help.

To learn more about Zinck, his trip and his reasons for foregoing a relaxing winter break – or to donate to help him finance the trip—contact Marlborough Public Schools Communications Liaison Beth Wagner at bwagner@mps-edu.org or call (508) 460-5808.

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