Jonathan Mwenda is currently studying Biomedical Engineering at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences in Blantyre. Jonathan is the youngest in a family with seven children. With four sisters and two brothers, Jonathan is the only sibling still attending school. A Dutchman named Erik Grootveld offers a scholarship program in Jonathan’s home village, and that scholarship is currently sponsoring his schooling.
Jonathan’s home villae is Ruarwe, Nkhata Bay, Usisya Ward, Nkhata Bay North Constituency, Village Head M’bangaza, Traditional Authority M’bwana. Jonathan and his family are subsistence farmers from the northern part of Malawi.Growing up near the lake, Jonathan and his siblings fish both to eat and to sell for income. They also grow cassava and make flour from it, from which they make nsima. In Jonathan’s language of Tumbuka, nsima made from cassava flour is called Kondowole.
Jonathan’s favorite past times include listening music, swimming, and playing football.
Jonathan’s is in the second of five years of his Biomedical Engineering program and is excited to volunteer with AHA because his goal is to become a health care provider at the grassroots level.
After finishing school, Jonathan hopes to design and maintain hospital equipment, making sure they are safe to use so they do not pose harm to the patient, nurses, or doctors.
After finishing the course of study, Jonathan will be familiar with and ready to use the following laboratory and ward equipment: oxygen concentrators, the electrocardiogram (ECG), blood bank refrigerator, sterilizer, aesthesia machine, ventilator, infusion pump, bedside patient monitors, pulse ox meter, centrifuge, chemistry analyzer, and microscope.
What is biomedical engineering? Jonathan explains:
Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles to improve human body’s health and medicine. It take into account different disciplines with focus on the human body, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, Biology, and Computer science/Computer engineering, equipment and Devices .