Learning new skills is a gateway to improving individual memory and cognitive abilities as it helps to keep the mind engaged and the body active. Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme (MLW)’s Occupational Health Nurse Stephen Amos expressed these sentiments following the MLW’s Skills Day, organised on 14 December 2023.

According to Amos, the highly patronised Skills Day event served as a platform to acquire new skills, foster health benefits, and raise environmental consciousness.

“The health benefit comes in as learning new skills keeps one’s mind engaged and body active. It helps a person gain new experiences, trains the brain to handle a wide range of challenges, and keeps one’s neural pathways active,” shared Amos.

On the day, those who participated in the event were engrossed in learning a wide array of skills, such as farming, soap making, musical skills, painting, photography, as well as car tyre and oil changing.

Amos highlighted that acquiring these skills would potentially empower the staff to save finances by being self-reliant in producing certain items.

One of the event patrons Jimmy Banda lauded the fan-packed event, emphasising its role in fostering community unity and collaboration with the organisation.

Banda is optimistic: “The event provided an opportunity to interact and choose the skills that we wanted to learn and also helped in managing stress.”

Ending the event meaningfully, all attendees were shot in the arms with tree seedlings to plant in their homes as a way of promoting environmental conversation.