After nearly 3 decades of living and working in Malawi at MLW, the Gordons have bid farewell, as they plan to relocate to the UK with their family. The Gordons have been instrumental in setting up and leading MLW to its current success. From participating in life changing studies, to securing funding for studies, and training up and coming researchers, they have diligently given their best efforts, knowledge and guidance to the success of the institution.

In honor of their contribution to the institution, SMT organized a farewell party for them where colleagues could come and celebrate them together, with the Gordons delivering their final lectures.

In her farewell lecture, Dr. Melita shared on the importance of continued efforts, indicating that progress of health research such as vaccine development for iNTS diseases to Typhoid, are ‘marathons and not sprints’. “Looking at my work exhausts me; it represents massive amount of work which is all necessary to provide evidence to move the work forward. And most of this work took years just to get to where we are now”.

Dr. Melita went on to share some of her most memorable moments over the last 28 years of working and living in Malawi.

“It does strike me that in the last few years things have really accelerated. There has been a lot of crises and a lot to deal with but look at the things that have come through. So many amazing high moments that Malawi has seen in the last 4 years. One triumph I would like to highlight was during the Covid-19 pandemic because of the role the hospital (QECH) played. We came together to create this campaign called “bump it forward” where people in the UK who had received their covid vaccine could donate funds to be used to buy PPE here in Malawi as we waited for the vaccine to arrive. We raised a little more than a quarter million British pounds, which came in handy for the QECH operations during that time to date. This was an inspirational movement which kept healthcare workers safe.”

Stephen’s lecture, which he titled “It’s Even Better than I Thought”, was a glimpse into his life’s experiences in Malawi over the past three decades. “Many of you don’t know this, but I failed my PhD the first time. Not every PhD is a success, but I got it eventually. And you must know, you can get it done too. That is why even though I was not always successful, I was joyful in my work”.

“I absolutely bless Henry as he goes forward with leading MLW; I think it’s a fantastic job leading such a terrific group of people,” he said.