Midwife fulfils desire

THE International Day of the Midwife was celebrated yesterday to honour the dedicated and noble work of all the midwives of Papua New Guinea and all over the world.
One of them is Dr Julie Kamblijambi Kep, a registered nurse and midwife who also has masters and doctorate degrees in nursing.
Kep’s calling to be a health worker came when she was in grade five and she dreamt of being a nurse working along the mighty Sepik River.
Years later, she served as a registered general nurse in East Sepik, Western and Morobe from 1978-1983.
She pursued further studies and in 1984, she completed her midwifery certificate.
From 1984-1990, Kep served the women and children in East Sepik, Southern Highlands and Port Moresby General Hospital.
She delivered babies amidst challenging situations, sometimes attending to 20 women in labour in just one shift.
In 1991, Kep became a senior lecturer on midwifery and shared her knowledge and skills to improve the midwifery practice in Papua New Guinea.
In 2006, after graduating with master’s degree in nursing from Monash University, she started to coordinate the maternal and child health programme at the University of Goroka.
Between balancing the challenges of being a single mother and the work demanded of her profession, Kep became a manager, educator, clinician and trainer of students in both rural and urban health facilities from 2006-2011.
In 2011-2015, Kep undertook studies to examine the transfer of birthing and child health knowledge in rural villages in PNG by training village birth attendants and child health volunteers.
She graduated in 2016 with a doctorate of philosophy.
From 2016 to date, Kep is a member of the senior nurses of Papua New Guinea.
She actively participates in leadership programmes both at the Health Department and as adviser to the PNG midwifery society.
She is currently a team leader of the curriculum review team with human resource training and curriculum section and a facilitator in the PNG-Australia midwifery leadership programme.
It has been a long and fulfilling journey for Kep – she is keen to keep going to enhance the lives of women and children through improving education and the practice of midwives in PNG.
“All these achievements were made possible by the God whom I serve and who has been the foundation of my life.” – WHO