For three months, the Nursing School of Coimbra has been the Angolan students' school, home and even a part of the family. On 17th July, a group of Angolan students has said good-bye to the Nursing School of Coimbra, where they have developed curricular activities, got into touch with laboratory teaching, observed and participated in the improvement of techniques and proceedings.
The final year students of the Higher Institute of Nursing of the University Agostinho Neto, aged between 24 and 37 years, have attended several training sessions at the ESEnfC, for example in basic life support and in immediate life support, as well as participated in several activities of civic training promoted by the institution of Coimbra.
«We take a great experience with us. There were unforgettable moments, both at the training and personal level», says Tiago Abel, the representative of this fourth-year group of the University Agostinho Neto.
In this student's opinion, who, like most of his colleagues, is already performing nursing functions in Angola (which has started to train basic and nurses), the group from Angola has participated in nursing classes and encountered «other situations, useful for the life of a nursing professional who will be in contact with people».
«We can say that these three months have been very useful for us, as we have managed to transmit the idea of what we are, while increasing our knowledge. All this due to the scientific capacity of the teaching staff who managed to transmit a lot of nursing-related knowledge to us. The nurse has to have a broad, holistic perspective. And it was exactly this attitude which we have encountered here, both on the part of the nurses and the nursing teachers. We are going to try to transmit this idea to our teachers», states Tiago Abel.
During the last three months the Angolan students have stayed at the ESEnfC residence and completed a curricular traineeship (Clinical Practice) in health units of Coimbra.
They have also celebrated the Queima das Fitas and visited several places known for their touristic and cultural value, among which the cities of Oporto, Lisbon and Figueira da Foz.
«It was worth it», says Tiago, who has been for 11 years, an official of the Health Ministry, in Huíla, Lubango - and also administrator of the Health Centre of Bula-Matady.
At the moment of farewell came also the recognition: «Keep on being what you are. We have found a very hospitable and hard-working group, which has shown us that nursing is not only what you experience at a given moment, but also what you have been learning throughout the time».
