well a slow week, counting down the days till perth! but it was a nice week as well, getting to hang out as a team, relax, do a bit of shopping and even got to be taken out to the ‘American club’ in Dhaka to hang out for the day. they had a pool (a storm hit so we had to wait a few hours for the lightning to stop but we still got to swim!) and great food and internet.
the maui team was also in so i got to hang out with the leaders! so nice to see familiar friends! a lot of our team was feeling yucky on and off, i think going back to eating western food did our bodies in after all the rice, potatoes and fried eggs!
i don’t have much to share as most of the week was just recapping from the last two months and looking forward to whats to come. the pool was interesting at the club, by the time i got in Bek (my leader) and Jasmine (maui leader) had all the kids (about 8 of them) rounded up and were playing games with them! quite entertaining and me and Naomi even joined in for a few rounds!
we got our haircuts... i think i mentioned before? maybe not. not a too bad of an experience..... they don’t do bangs very well so i was a tad unimpressed but o’well they’ll grow! i bought some fabric and one of my teammates drew a photo of a dress and i got the tailor to make one for me! i was actually pleasantly surprised as it was not a bangla style at all but he did a very good job!
we left thursday evening, a scary drive in a ‘CNG’ (little motorized car thingy) and got to the airport and were taking off and met the rest of our team (that had been in India) in Dubai! we had a five hour layover and then were on our next/last flight to Perth.
arriving in Perth was overwhelming and very cold. it was a mere 12 degree’s and after our 30-40 degree’s we were used to we were all quite chilled! i knew it would be a hard adjustment but i don’t think i expected it coming back to Perth, just home. today is monday, and i still haven’t gone out anywhere public besides the base and that is even overwhelming. its had to describe but when your gone for eight months in foreign lands you get used to everything being foreign and being the only white people who speak english and coming back is just ‘pow’ in your face. but i plan on going to a grocery store today! woo hoo! haha! got to get some toothpaste, shampoo and things. it will probably be overwhelming with lots of decisions and the price of things here. but it has to be done! can’t hide away forever!
as of right now i fly into edmonton to go to a wedding (cousin) on June 23 and then drive back with my family sometime after that... maybe a week? not sure the day i’ll be home but hopefully i’ll get to spend canada day at home this year!!!!! first time in winnipeg for that day in 8 years!!!!
till next time...
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
week forty six-Dhaka
our second last week of outreach, a very full week. sunday morning me, Jen, Naomi and Bek left for this apartment to teach a group of women about healthcare in pregnancy. we spent three days with them teaching them snidbits of what we know so that they can help their community and the women in the slums that don’t always go to get care. we even got to go to a ANC clinic and better help them learn how to feel for the baby and listen to its heartbeat. the women really grabbed on to all we had to say and would spend time praying for each mom they checked. it was a really fun group of women who just wanted to learn! then wednesday Naomi and I were supposed to plan a teaching for a different group of women for thursday. so the next day we left early and went to the group of four women to teach them about deliveries and how they can help and support the mom in labour. it was an amazing experience, although i was sick the entire time... but the women were really into our teachings and got really excited about it.
it has been really nice hanging out in Dhaka, where we’re staying is very relaxing and comfortable and yes we’ve had grilled cheese sandwiches!! woohoo!! the teaching week was very full, and a bit tiring but also very encouraging to see that what we’ve learnt we can pass on for these women to better their communities. one of my lessons was on vital taking, pulse, breathing, blood pressure and temp. one of the women was so excited when i showed her how to take blood pressure she said ‘oh we’re all becoming doctor’s today!’ another things she said was about the pulse ‘sometimes i feel it jumping and sometimes not, but now i can feel it.’ the ‘jumping’ was referring to the pulse beating! and when they found the heartbeat of the baby in one of the lady’s bellies they got so excited and the smile on their face was priceless. they were so proud of what they had learnt!
we got friday and saturday off as we missed our day off last week, it was relaxing but also a bit crazy, i was feeling really nauseous most of friday and decided to go out shopping anyways. only made it to lunch then me, Naomi and Tiffany headed home feeling to yucky to continue with the day. the next day us three and Jasmine (a maui team leader that i knew when i mission built their!!!) went to a salon! yes, haircut in asia. sometimes not the best idea, but its not too bad. could have been worse, i’m not thrilled but i can get it fixed! i also got my eyebrows threaded! first time ever i did that, didn’t hurt to bad and they did a good job!
this next week we head into debriefing, a few projects to finish up and team times together. i’m excited we leave thursday but feeling a little nervous to head into ‘real life’ again!
so i guess this is it till Perth! talk to ya then!!!
it has been really nice hanging out in Dhaka, where we’re staying is very relaxing and comfortable and yes we’ve had grilled cheese sandwiches!! woohoo!! the teaching week was very full, and a bit tiring but also very encouraging to see that what we’ve learnt we can pass on for these women to better their communities. one of my lessons was on vital taking, pulse, breathing, blood pressure and temp. one of the women was so excited when i showed her how to take blood pressure she said ‘oh we’re all becoming doctor’s today!’ another things she said was about the pulse ‘sometimes i feel it jumping and sometimes not, but now i can feel it.’ the ‘jumping’ was referring to the pulse beating! and when they found the heartbeat of the baby in one of the lady’s bellies they got so excited and the smile on their face was priceless. they were so proud of what they had learnt!
we got friday and saturday off as we missed our day off last week, it was relaxing but also a bit crazy, i was feeling really nauseous most of friday and decided to go out shopping anyways. only made it to lunch then me, Naomi and Tiffany headed home feeling to yucky to continue with the day. the next day us three and Jasmine (a maui team leader that i knew when i mission built their!!!) went to a salon! yes, haircut in asia. sometimes not the best idea, but its not too bad. could have been worse, i’m not thrilled but i can get it fixed! i also got my eyebrows threaded! first time ever i did that, didn’t hurt to bad and they did a good job!
this next week we head into debriefing, a few projects to finish up and team times together. i’m excited we leave thursday but feeling a little nervous to head into ‘real life’ again!
so i guess this is it till Perth! talk to ya then!!!
Monday, May 23, 2011
week forty five- Bollobhpur-Dhaka
this week has been so crazy. tuesday started off with two deliveries and another lady in labour that i was monitoring. that night i did a delivery just before eleven, a beautiful little boy. Celia stayed up all night with the other mom who was still in labour and came to woke up me and Naomi at five am and Naomi did a delivery right then! another women was fully dilated and i delivered her at seven thirty. but this delivery was a bit more difficult. the baby’s heart rate was up and down, sometimes dropping dangerously low. i had to go to the head nurses house to ask for a drug to help the mom have more contractions so the baby could come out faster. it was a bit of a struggle and me and Naomi praying like crazy for this little baby. there were charms on the mom’s arm and we knew she was muslim. we saw break through at seven when the heart rate went up to a normal beat and stayed that way till delivery! the baby boy was born with a strong heart beat but not a strong cry. it took some stimulation and prayer but we eventually did hear a little cry from him which grew as the day went on!
that same morning Celia did two deliveries back to back! it was pretty crazy, i was her second and was running around helping her take vitals as well as taking my mom/baby’s vitals. it was fun, but exhausting as well. the rest of the day was spent getting paperwork and laundry done. in the afternoon our team went to Karpasdanga to say goodbye to Benuka and her family. it was a lovely lunch that they prepared, extremely spicy! my mouth has never been on fire as it was that day. thursday we had a team meeting, prepared for our seminars that we’ll be teaching on healthcare and tying loose ends up.
that evening we had a ‘tea/biscuit’ night for the nursing students. about thirty of them showed up in our small house! we were constantly serving Sprite, tea, cookies, sweets and water to the girls that continued to come and go. it was a lot of fun, we danced, sang, watched a ‘Bollywood’ video and started giving away things we didn’t need anymore. the girls were really sad that we were leaving and kept asking for photos of us. i ran out of ones of me and Naomi to hand out so started giving out my family photo’s! sorry family, you will now be shown to many people in Bangladesh! it was a good night though and the power stayed on for the most of it!
friday we packed, cleaned and got ready to leave. it was a bittersweet day, we are all excited to move on and are tired of outreach life but have all developed relationships with the nursing students and are going to miss midwifery. that evening Sister Gillian came over and we got to learn more about her and how she got to Bangladesh. she is a remarkable women who has dedicated her life to her work and to helping these people.
saturday we woke up early, and packed up the van and were off by six am. it was sad to say goodbye to our new friends. some of them cried. some of us nearly cried. the drive was no fun at all but a lot shorter than our original drive to Bollobhpur. we made it to Rachel’s house just after one and were able to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and rest! the next day was going to be a full one of teaching for me, Naomi and Jen. the other girls were heading out to a different part of the city to stay a night to do teachings to a group of Pakistani women. full on work but really good for these women. i’m excited but also very tired!
till next time...
that same morning Celia did two deliveries back to back! it was pretty crazy, i was her second and was running around helping her take vitals as well as taking my mom/baby’s vitals. it was fun, but exhausting as well. the rest of the day was spent getting paperwork and laundry done. in the afternoon our team went to Karpasdanga to say goodbye to Benuka and her family. it was a lovely lunch that they prepared, extremely spicy! my mouth has never been on fire as it was that day. thursday we had a team meeting, prepared for our seminars that we’ll be teaching on healthcare and tying loose ends up.
that evening we had a ‘tea/biscuit’ night for the nursing students. about thirty of them showed up in our small house! we were constantly serving Sprite, tea, cookies, sweets and water to the girls that continued to come and go. it was a lot of fun, we danced, sang, watched a ‘Bollywood’ video and started giving away things we didn’t need anymore. the girls were really sad that we were leaving and kept asking for photos of us. i ran out of ones of me and Naomi to hand out so started giving out my family photo’s! sorry family, you will now be shown to many people in Bangladesh! it was a good night though and the power stayed on for the most of it!
friday we packed, cleaned and got ready to leave. it was a bittersweet day, we are all excited to move on and are tired of outreach life but have all developed relationships with the nursing students and are going to miss midwifery. that evening Sister Gillian came over and we got to learn more about her and how she got to Bangladesh. she is a remarkable women who has dedicated her life to her work and to helping these people.
saturday we woke up early, and packed up the van and were off by six am. it was sad to say goodbye to our new friends. some of them cried. some of us nearly cried. the drive was no fun at all but a lot shorter than our original drive to Bollobhpur. we made it to Rachel’s house just after one and were able to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and rest! the next day was going to be a full one of teaching for me, Naomi and Jen. the other girls were heading out to a different part of the city to stay a night to do teachings to a group of Pakistani women. full on work but really good for these women. i’m excited but also very tired!
till next time...
Sunday, May 15, 2011
week forty four-Bollobhpur
hmmm trying to remember the past week... me and naomi were partners again, working a lot of morning shifts and going to an anc clinic.
its been a hot week, and our water pump has busted so we’re pumping water from the well outside non stop. going and dumping water on ourselves just to try and stay cool. the good thing is the power isn’t too bad so we usually can have cold water from our fridge! when the power is on me and Naomi sit in our wet towels under the fan, very refreshing!
the hospital was pretty slow as well this week, Jen delivered a stillbirth on wednesday which was a bit hard, especially because it was the mothers second one and she has no live children. that same day me and Naomi went to a clinic where a storm hit and the winds blew like crazy and the rain pelted down. all the women huddled under the roof top to escape and for an hour or so we felt cooled down.
that afternoon Celia told me a women had just come into the hospital in labour so i went and monitored her. she gave birth at six thirty to a little boy! a healthy mom and baby, but the delivery itself stressful. sometimes working with the nursing students can be a little trying, with language and just cultural differences. also though because they have such a different way of doing things. its difficult to explain but the student i worked with that day has a reputation of being very controlling and not very friendly. i was left feeling upset and frustrated with her. we’ve made emends since then and things are okay, but i probably won’t be working with her again!
the rest of the week there were no deliveries so we spent days sitting at the hospital talking with the nursing students and cleaning our house and just hanging out. then saturday a few women came in and Naomi did a delivery that evening. a women also came in at the same time who was only one cm dilated, so i stayed up through the night with her monitoring her, then another women came in at one thirty am who was much further along so i started monitoring both of them. Liz came around two to check in on me and i told her about the two women. Bek and Naomi came around two thirty and slept on one of the beds while i continued monitoring, then at three thirty we brought the second women in to the labour room, her waters were broke and she delivered a beautiful little girl at four o’five am! it was a beautiful delivery no stress and she cried as soon as she was out! the mom was so excited, i’m completely content if that was my last delivery. i’ll be sad to go home and no be able to be a part of deliveries but i’m grateful for the experiences i’ve had.
so after that delivery i came home, showered and layed in bed just as i heard a knock on the door that the first mom was ready. i woke up Liz and went with her to her delivery, while this was happening Celia’s mom from the night before also was ready to push so i ran back to the house and woke her up too! so i stayed their till they delivered and helped with recuss on Liz’s baby, he was born very small and didn’t cry, but after while and with some help he was crying and doing good.
so i didn’t sleep at all saturday night, so sunday i went to bed around seven thirty and woke up at one! it was a good night and doing a delivery always leaves you with a bit of an adrenaline rush so i didn’t feel to tired.
the rest of the weekend and our day off was just relaxing and catching up on sleep, despite being extremely hot was restful.
well i actually get to stay again here for the last week, crazy i know! we leave next saturday for Dhaka.
till next time...
its been a hot week, and our water pump has busted so we’re pumping water from the well outside non stop. going and dumping water on ourselves just to try and stay cool. the good thing is the power isn’t too bad so we usually can have cold water from our fridge! when the power is on me and Naomi sit in our wet towels under the fan, very refreshing!
the hospital was pretty slow as well this week, Jen delivered a stillbirth on wednesday which was a bit hard, especially because it was the mothers second one and she has no live children. that same day me and Naomi went to a clinic where a storm hit and the winds blew like crazy and the rain pelted down. all the women huddled under the roof top to escape and for an hour or so we felt cooled down.
that afternoon Celia told me a women had just come into the hospital in labour so i went and monitored her. she gave birth at six thirty to a little boy! a healthy mom and baby, but the delivery itself stressful. sometimes working with the nursing students can be a little trying, with language and just cultural differences. also though because they have such a different way of doing things. its difficult to explain but the student i worked with that day has a reputation of being very controlling and not very friendly. i was left feeling upset and frustrated with her. we’ve made emends since then and things are okay, but i probably won’t be working with her again!
the rest of the week there were no deliveries so we spent days sitting at the hospital talking with the nursing students and cleaning our house and just hanging out. then saturday a few women came in and Naomi did a delivery that evening. a women also came in at the same time who was only one cm dilated, so i stayed up through the night with her monitoring her, then another women came in at one thirty am who was much further along so i started monitoring both of them. Liz came around two to check in on me and i told her about the two women. Bek and Naomi came around two thirty and slept on one of the beds while i continued monitoring, then at three thirty we brought the second women in to the labour room, her waters were broke and she delivered a beautiful little girl at four o’five am! it was a beautiful delivery no stress and she cried as soon as she was out! the mom was so excited, i’m completely content if that was my last delivery. i’ll be sad to go home and no be able to be a part of deliveries but i’m grateful for the experiences i’ve had.
so after that delivery i came home, showered and layed in bed just as i heard a knock on the door that the first mom was ready. i woke up Liz and went with her to her delivery, while this was happening Celia’s mom from the night before also was ready to push so i ran back to the house and woke her up too! so i stayed their till they delivered and helped with recuss on Liz’s baby, he was born very small and didn’t cry, but after while and with some help he was crying and doing good.
so i didn’t sleep at all saturday night, so sunday i went to bed around seven thirty and woke up at one! it was a good night and doing a delivery always leaves you with a bit of an adrenaline rush so i didn’t feel to tired.
the rest of the weekend and our day off was just relaxing and catching up on sleep, despite being extremely hot was restful.
well i actually get to stay again here for the last week, crazy i know! we leave next saturday for Dhaka.
till next time...
week forty three- Karpasdanga
week forty three
Karpasdanga
a crazy week, very exhausting and a full of frustrating moments. me and naomi were together once again in Karpasdanga, but the atmosphere was different. different nursing students and a different schedule. the beginning of the week a women came in and we monitored her a little before Benuka made the call to send her for cesarian. we weren’t super thrilled because we knew that there were no major problems and a need for her to be cut open. we have been told here that cesarians are almost like a disease and they are over used. then the next day another women was in labour, progressing wonderfully, Naomi had spent the majority of the day monitoring her and spending time with her. her family however decided around ten pm that they were going to take her for a cs as well. we tried to argue for her that the pain she was in was normal, baby and mom were both physically doing very well and it wouldn’t be long before she would deliver but there voices started raising and same with Benuka and the whole situation became very stressful and when you don’t have the language, what can you do? so she left. we heard the next day she had a healthy little girl. we were left though feeling very discouraged. all these women going for unnecessary procedures.
friday we had wanted to leave because of the night before. we felt like there was nothing we could do so what was the point in us staying. but we prayed it over and felt like it was right to stay, that walking away wasn’t going to solve the problem. so we did and a women was in labour that day progressing slowly. around nine pm we were notified that another women had come and she was close. so Naomi monitored that women and i began to monitor the women who had been there all day. Naomi’s mom delivered at one am, everything fine. after the week we had had so far we were praying like crazy that these women would get to have normal deliveries. around three am another women came in fully dilated the same time my mom i had been with was fully. so i moved in with her to a small labour room (closet) behind another ‘checkup’ room and Naomi stayed with this new mom in the delivery room. Naomi’s mom delivered first just after five, and i was called in to help. i got there and this beautiful little boy, lay in the bed, blue and lifeless. we began praying like crazy for a miracle, for his slow heart to pick up and for him to cry, but it never came. the family showed the mom and took him away. i was feeling on edge and Benuka was shouting and clearly very upset at the loss. but she then went into overdrive and came into my delivery and demanded an episiotomy (a cut to help the baby come out) but she wouldn’t listen or even look at what was happening. the fetal heart was so strong and the mom was doing fine i knew that baby would be out soon. they rambled off in bangla to each other and with the random women who was in the room (later figured out she was a family member of the first delivery Naomi did) it was such a chaotic environment and really frustrating that everyone was overreacting. they told the mom to get up and were going to move her to the other room which i thought was ridiculous, no one was even watching the baby. she started to get up but while she was still sitting another contraction hit and i shouted for them to lay her back down and he was born. before his feet were even out he let out a great scream! i was so thankful and just kept praying that the chaos of the room would die down and he and his mom could be in peace. everybody left at that point, leaving me to clean up and take care of both mom and baby. i don’t think i’ve ever prayed so much through those deliveries. and though that one baby didn’t make it me and Naomi still felt God’s peace at the end of it all. Benuka later came to us and made emends by saying ‘no tension, Benuka no mad’ we didn’t agree with her methods and her rash behavior but when your held back by language and cultural differences theres not much you can do. we were both very tired, we had breakfast and then caught a ride back to Bollobhpur to be with the team.
the weekend was relaxing and i got to sleep and do almost nothing. went to the ‘big’ village again and did some shopping and got to by kit kat’s again! haha! monday was a relaxing day off and then began the next week. i’m now staying in Bollobhpur for the remainder time here, only two weeks left then we all head to Dahka. we’re preparing seminar for women in ministry with no health training but they want to have some to better their communities. after that week its a bit of r&r then back to Perth! i can’t believe we’re so close to the finish line. crazy to think this time next month i’m back in an english land where the electricity is always on and cheese is always available!
till next time...
Karpasdanga
a crazy week, very exhausting and a full of frustrating moments. me and naomi were together once again in Karpasdanga, but the atmosphere was different. different nursing students and a different schedule. the beginning of the week a women came in and we monitored her a little before Benuka made the call to send her for cesarian. we weren’t super thrilled because we knew that there were no major problems and a need for her to be cut open. we have been told here that cesarians are almost like a disease and they are over used. then the next day another women was in labour, progressing wonderfully, Naomi had spent the majority of the day monitoring her and spending time with her. her family however decided around ten pm that they were going to take her for a cs as well. we tried to argue for her that the pain she was in was normal, baby and mom were both physically doing very well and it wouldn’t be long before she would deliver but there voices started raising and same with Benuka and the whole situation became very stressful and when you don’t have the language, what can you do? so she left. we heard the next day she had a healthy little girl. we were left though feeling very discouraged. all these women going for unnecessary procedures.
friday we had wanted to leave because of the night before. we felt like there was nothing we could do so what was the point in us staying. but we prayed it over and felt like it was right to stay, that walking away wasn’t going to solve the problem. so we did and a women was in labour that day progressing slowly. around nine pm we were notified that another women had come and she was close. so Naomi monitored that women and i began to monitor the women who had been there all day. Naomi’s mom delivered at one am, everything fine. after the week we had had so far we were praying like crazy that these women would get to have normal deliveries. around three am another women came in fully dilated the same time my mom i had been with was fully. so i moved in with her to a small labour room (closet) behind another ‘checkup’ room and Naomi stayed with this new mom in the delivery room. Naomi’s mom delivered first just after five, and i was called in to help. i got there and this beautiful little boy, lay in the bed, blue and lifeless. we began praying like crazy for a miracle, for his slow heart to pick up and for him to cry, but it never came. the family showed the mom and took him away. i was feeling on edge and Benuka was shouting and clearly very upset at the loss. but she then went into overdrive and came into my delivery and demanded an episiotomy (a cut to help the baby come out) but she wouldn’t listen or even look at what was happening. the fetal heart was so strong and the mom was doing fine i knew that baby would be out soon. they rambled off in bangla to each other and with the random women who was in the room (later figured out she was a family member of the first delivery Naomi did) it was such a chaotic environment and really frustrating that everyone was overreacting. they told the mom to get up and were going to move her to the other room which i thought was ridiculous, no one was even watching the baby. she started to get up but while she was still sitting another contraction hit and i shouted for them to lay her back down and he was born. before his feet were even out he let out a great scream! i was so thankful and just kept praying that the chaos of the room would die down and he and his mom could be in peace. everybody left at that point, leaving me to clean up and take care of both mom and baby. i don’t think i’ve ever prayed so much through those deliveries. and though that one baby didn’t make it me and Naomi still felt God’s peace at the end of it all. Benuka later came to us and made emends by saying ‘no tension, Benuka no mad’ we didn’t agree with her methods and her rash behavior but when your held back by language and cultural differences theres not much you can do. we were both very tired, we had breakfast and then caught a ride back to Bollobhpur to be with the team.
the weekend was relaxing and i got to sleep and do almost nothing. went to the ‘big’ village again and did some shopping and got to by kit kat’s again! haha! monday was a relaxing day off and then began the next week. i’m now staying in Bollobhpur for the remainder time here, only two weeks left then we all head to Dahka. we’re preparing seminar for women in ministry with no health training but they want to have some to better their communities. after that week its a bit of r&r then back to Perth! i can’t believe we’re so close to the finish line. crazy to think this time next month i’m back in an english land where the electricity is always on and cheese is always available!
till next time...
week forty two-Bollobhpur
back on the home base, partners with Tiffany again! had a good week, went to a few clinics, worked the morning and afternoon shifts at the hospital and even went to ‘town’ to buy a few fun things for the team. things like ‘chocolate’ powder (not quite but pretty good when you got nothing), cereal, and we even found slightly melted kit kat bars for an easter treat!
wednesday i spent all morning and afternoon monitoring a labouring mom. around five we (nursing student and me) started walking her around the hospital yard. we’d walk her and then she’d have to throw up, then we’d walk her. (we did this to help her labour progress as it was going slow) we didn’t have to walk her long before we were walking her to the labour room. she got on the bed and by the time the nursing student could run our to yell ‘delivery’ to all her friends (so you get to have a small crowd watching you but its for their experience) the i had already delivered the head and body came immediately after! it was so nice to have a relaxing environment for the mom without the crowd and her to be able just to be in a position that suited her without having to have her knees up by her ears! and it was a little girl! my first girl in almost ten deliveries! both mom and baby were healthy and happy!
i was blessed enough to do two deliveries this week, my second being on saturday morning. a women came in at eight thirty who seemed to be much further along in her labour than the only three centimeters she actually was. she walked and stood and started pushing in the ‘labour’ area. i told the student nurse that we should bring her to the labour room cuz she was pushing, she waved her hand at me and said ‘no’. i looked at the mom again, and looked at Naomi who was with me monitoring another women and said again, ‘i think we should go or this baby will be born here’. the student looked at me, looked at the women, spoke something bangla to her and said ‘okay’. we walked her into the room at nine thirty and her daughter was born just ten minutes later! i couldn’t believe how fast she progressed. when i asked when she started going into labour the girls told me six am. this means she was only in labour for three hours! not impossible but highly unusual. so either their was a mix up in translation or she really did only have a three hour labour! pretty amazing.
Naomi did a delivery later on that day which was the opposite of mine. the poor women had been in labour since before four am that morning, she was fully dilated around two pm and started pushing but that baby wasn’t born until five twenty. i couldn’t believe the strength of this women and it was so amazing to see her and the baby both fine in the end. it was also nice that Nai, Bek and myself could be there to support her and encourage her. we could walk with her as she pushed (baby still very high up) and hold her in different positions so she didn’t get to sore or uncomfortable (as comfortable as one can be in labour). we earned her trust, especially Naomi who at one point was going to just go to check on something and the women didn’t want to let go of her arm. she was exhausted when all was said and done, but still managed a smile at the sight of her new baby boy!
our easter here was really nice! the night before we boiled and painted eggs as a team. we had to use permanent markers and nail polish as we had no paint! but they turned out beautifully! then sunday we had breakfast on the roof. some bangla food and also ‘french toast’ made with buns as we had no bread! but very tasty! we then read the story of the reason we celebrate easter, and acted it out as we went along. it was neat to ‘be a part of’ all that happened. we ended with singing an African song we remembered and then ‘Celebrate Jesus Celebrate’. we finished off our celebration with an egg hunt and a kit kat bar for each of us! it was a really fun day with the team. we even went on a house visit to see one of the nursing students families who lives near by. they fed us many sweets chatted with us as best as we could. her aunty actually speaks very good english and it was neat to chat with her about the beliefs of pregnant women in the villages. her job is to train TBA’s. (traditional birth attendants) mostly all women wear a black cord with a charm attached around their bellies, some very tight. this is to help protect the baby from being to big. they think if they tie this around their bellies the baby will grow upwards instead of out and it won’t be to big. there were other beliefs about certain foods that would harm the baby and that for twenty days after the baby is born the women is not allowed out of the house, i’m not sure why on that one but it is their belief.
so yes good day, good week! even a few cyclones which helped us have cool nights so sleeping isn’t too unbearable! next week i’m off to Karpasdanga once again for the last time, i’m looking forward to staying home after that but also looking forward to seeing Benuka again!
till next time...
wednesday i spent all morning and afternoon monitoring a labouring mom. around five we (nursing student and me) started walking her around the hospital yard. we’d walk her and then she’d have to throw up, then we’d walk her. (we did this to help her labour progress as it was going slow) we didn’t have to walk her long before we were walking her to the labour room. she got on the bed and by the time the nursing student could run our to yell ‘delivery’ to all her friends (so you get to have a small crowd watching you but its for their experience) the i had already delivered the head and body came immediately after! it was so nice to have a relaxing environment for the mom without the crowd and her to be able just to be in a position that suited her without having to have her knees up by her ears! and it was a little girl! my first girl in almost ten deliveries! both mom and baby were healthy and happy!
i was blessed enough to do two deliveries this week, my second being on saturday morning. a women came in at eight thirty who seemed to be much further along in her labour than the only three centimeters she actually was. she walked and stood and started pushing in the ‘labour’ area. i told the student nurse that we should bring her to the labour room cuz she was pushing, she waved her hand at me and said ‘no’. i looked at the mom again, and looked at Naomi who was with me monitoring another women and said again, ‘i think we should go or this baby will be born here’. the student looked at me, looked at the women, spoke something bangla to her and said ‘okay’. we walked her into the room at nine thirty and her daughter was born just ten minutes later! i couldn’t believe how fast she progressed. when i asked when she started going into labour the girls told me six am. this means she was only in labour for three hours! not impossible but highly unusual. so either their was a mix up in translation or she really did only have a three hour labour! pretty amazing.
Naomi did a delivery later on that day which was the opposite of mine. the poor women had been in labour since before four am that morning, she was fully dilated around two pm and started pushing but that baby wasn’t born until five twenty. i couldn’t believe the strength of this women and it was so amazing to see her and the baby both fine in the end. it was also nice that Nai, Bek and myself could be there to support her and encourage her. we could walk with her as she pushed (baby still very high up) and hold her in different positions so she didn’t get to sore or uncomfortable (as comfortable as one can be in labour). we earned her trust, especially Naomi who at one point was going to just go to check on something and the women didn’t want to let go of her arm. she was exhausted when all was said and done, but still managed a smile at the sight of her new baby boy!
our easter here was really nice! the night before we boiled and painted eggs as a team. we had to use permanent markers and nail polish as we had no paint! but they turned out beautifully! then sunday we had breakfast on the roof. some bangla food and also ‘french toast’ made with buns as we had no bread! but very tasty! we then read the story of the reason we celebrate easter, and acted it out as we went along. it was neat to ‘be a part of’ all that happened. we ended with singing an African song we remembered and then ‘Celebrate Jesus Celebrate’. we finished off our celebration with an egg hunt and a kit kat bar for each of us! it was a really fun day with the team. we even went on a house visit to see one of the nursing students families who lives near by. they fed us many sweets chatted with us as best as we could. her aunty actually speaks very good english and it was neat to chat with her about the beliefs of pregnant women in the villages. her job is to train TBA’s. (traditional birth attendants) mostly all women wear a black cord with a charm attached around their bellies, some very tight. this is to help protect the baby from being to big. they think if they tie this around their bellies the baby will grow upwards instead of out and it won’t be to big. there were other beliefs about certain foods that would harm the baby and that for twenty days after the baby is born the women is not allowed out of the house, i’m not sure why on that one but it is their belief.
so yes good day, good week! even a few cyclones which helped us have cool nights so sleeping isn’t too unbearable! next week i’m off to Karpasdanga once again for the last time, i’m looking forward to staying home after that but also looking forward to seeing Benuka again!
till next time...
week forty one - Karpasdanga
spending the week with Tiffany at Karpasdanga. new nursing students and the absent of Benuka made the week rather quiet, but still enjoyable. we did some ANC clinics seeing over fifty women. one clinic was an hour away and one i had gone to the first time i spent the week there. it was neat to see some of the same women and continue their care and not be strangers each time!
thursday was Bangla New Years, and we were awoken to drums beating nearby at five am. they continued on for the morning and after breakfast we were ushered over to the school next door to watch the celebration. all the children were dressed up beautifully and then we heard the drums. a large crew of teenage guys came dancing into the school yard, some covered completely in mud, banging on drums and shouting. then we saw a ‘couple’ under an umbrella. after getting a closer look Bek, who had come to visit for the night, said ‘oh my thats a boy!’ the ‘girl’ in the couple was dressed as a women. then i noticed that some of the girls had dressed as boys as well. i’m not sure why, i tried asking but with limited english no one could give me an answer apart from ‘celebration!’. the dancing crew left and went on to the hospital grounds then on to other homes in the village. the crowds slowly dissipated and we returned back to the hospital. we had lunch and then all three of us returned to Bollobhpur for the celebration.
some of the girls on my team got dressed up in their sari’s, (a wrap around dress) and we went to the field in front of the church nearby. they had a stage and music set up. me and Naomi stayed for an hour and when nothing happened we left. we heard after that the program consisted of a man talking for quite some time, then random people singing and then dancing. but the dancing was cut quite short because of a cyclone that hit suddenly. the cyclones here are quite fun! the wind all of sudden picks up and all the shudders and doors bang like crazy. everything has to be locked up. the thunder is so loud and lightening lights up the house. then the rains come and pound down for less than an hour and then everything returns to normal! the air is so cool after its really nice as we’re heading into their hot season. already i feel like i’m melting away. today i have taken a total of five ‘showers’ just to cool off.
me and Tiff returned to Karpasdanga friday morning via bicycles! yes our team are now owners of two very old fashion bikes including bells of course! it took us just over an hour to get there and apart from riding against the wind and feeling like i was sitting on a cement seat the ride was good.
because it was still a holiday (new years) there were no clinics, so we hung out with the nursing students who had fun playing dress up and filled our faces with lipstick, eye liner and mascara. they even gave us jewelry to wear and a bindy for our foreheads. (the circle stickers) me and Tiff ended up falling asleep on their bed and slept till it was time for lunch. in the late afternoon the girls took me to the river just behind the hospital and we hung out and talked and taught each other our languages. Tiff wasn’t feeling well so she stayed in bed. they asked if i wanted to cook so i made fried eggs and hash browns. Tiff and I were excited to get out of eating the evening rice. (they eat dinner around nine pm and rice is the staple food so lunch and dinner always consist of a large portion) With Tiff still unwell i began monitoring the one women in labour (only one the entire week). between checking in on Tiff and staying with the soon to be mom Tiff fell asleep and the women became very tired of being in labour. she like to stay on the floor and refused water or food. at one point she finally obliged and took a sip of water not knowing it was mixed with a glucose powder to give her energy and she spat it strait out! including all over my one foot! at ten fifty five she gave birth to a beautiful boy! it was a nice delivery but she did tear. i asked the girls if they would suture and they said ‘no you suture’ so i sutured. my first time all on my own. it went good, i was nervous but tried not to be! lots of prayer and my headlamp on she was sutured up. i even got a compliment from one of the students, which help reassure me i hadn’t destroyed the poor girl!
the next morning i had woken up but was still laying in bed and heard a knock on the door, when i didn’t answer a face appeared in the window, the new little boys grandma stood their holding the baby motioning me to come outside! a little taken aback but not completely surprised, i got dressed and went out to find them packed up ready to go. i was very grateful that they woke me up. they had also prepared breakfast for me and Tiff. the hospitality here is so genuine i’ve never experienced anything like it before. a roti and very good omelet filled me right up and it took a bit of persistence for them to take no for an answer that i was in fact not going to eat any more!
we had tea and packed up and got back on the bikes and made our way home to join the team. a better drive but by bottom being very very sore. i nearly hit a goat and a lady but made it safely with no injuries on me or others. the problem is the bikes are quite high and my feet don’t touch the ground so stopping and starting are somewhat challenging! also my very heavy backpack was strapped to the little ledge on the back of the seat which threw off my balance a little, but again God kept us and the rest of villagers safe!
i did ANC that morning, and then got to relax for the afternoon. sunday we had church and spent the afternoon cleaning and then me and Naomi went to the village market to buy some grocery’s and use the internet. my second time online. its not possible to use my computer there and its easier to write out these updates on my computer so sorry you had to wait so long to read them. sunday i really wanted to call home but couldn’t find anywhere to get enough credit for the phone so no call.
monday, day off. sleeping,shower, movie, shower, eat, shower, movie, shower, eat. and going and checking in at the hospital to see if they are any women labouring. there are none today. its almost seven pm now, power off. very hot. but feeling rested which is nice, ready to start another week here at Bollobhpur!
till next time...
thursday was Bangla New Years, and we were awoken to drums beating nearby at five am. they continued on for the morning and after breakfast we were ushered over to the school next door to watch the celebration. all the children were dressed up beautifully and then we heard the drums. a large crew of teenage guys came dancing into the school yard, some covered completely in mud, banging on drums and shouting. then we saw a ‘couple’ under an umbrella. after getting a closer look Bek, who had come to visit for the night, said ‘oh my thats a boy!’ the ‘girl’ in the couple was dressed as a women. then i noticed that some of the girls had dressed as boys as well. i’m not sure why, i tried asking but with limited english no one could give me an answer apart from ‘celebration!’. the dancing crew left and went on to the hospital grounds then on to other homes in the village. the crowds slowly dissipated and we returned back to the hospital. we had lunch and then all three of us returned to Bollobhpur for the celebration.
some of the girls on my team got dressed up in their sari’s, (a wrap around dress) and we went to the field in front of the church nearby. they had a stage and music set up. me and Naomi stayed for an hour and when nothing happened we left. we heard after that the program consisted of a man talking for quite some time, then random people singing and then dancing. but the dancing was cut quite short because of a cyclone that hit suddenly. the cyclones here are quite fun! the wind all of sudden picks up and all the shudders and doors bang like crazy. everything has to be locked up. the thunder is so loud and lightening lights up the house. then the rains come and pound down for less than an hour and then everything returns to normal! the air is so cool after its really nice as we’re heading into their hot season. already i feel like i’m melting away. today i have taken a total of five ‘showers’ just to cool off.
me and Tiff returned to Karpasdanga friday morning via bicycles! yes our team are now owners of two very old fashion bikes including bells of course! it took us just over an hour to get there and apart from riding against the wind and feeling like i was sitting on a cement seat the ride was good.
because it was still a holiday (new years) there were no clinics, so we hung out with the nursing students who had fun playing dress up and filled our faces with lipstick, eye liner and mascara. they even gave us jewelry to wear and a bindy for our foreheads. (the circle stickers) me and Tiff ended up falling asleep on their bed and slept till it was time for lunch. in the late afternoon the girls took me to the river just behind the hospital and we hung out and talked and taught each other our languages. Tiff wasn’t feeling well so she stayed in bed. they asked if i wanted to cook so i made fried eggs and hash browns. Tiff and I were excited to get out of eating the evening rice. (they eat dinner around nine pm and rice is the staple food so lunch and dinner always consist of a large portion) With Tiff still unwell i began monitoring the one women in labour (only one the entire week). between checking in on Tiff and staying with the soon to be mom Tiff fell asleep and the women became very tired of being in labour. she like to stay on the floor and refused water or food. at one point she finally obliged and took a sip of water not knowing it was mixed with a glucose powder to give her energy and she spat it strait out! including all over my one foot! at ten fifty five she gave birth to a beautiful boy! it was a nice delivery but she did tear. i asked the girls if they would suture and they said ‘no you suture’ so i sutured. my first time all on my own. it went good, i was nervous but tried not to be! lots of prayer and my headlamp on she was sutured up. i even got a compliment from one of the students, which help reassure me i hadn’t destroyed the poor girl!
the next morning i had woken up but was still laying in bed and heard a knock on the door, when i didn’t answer a face appeared in the window, the new little boys grandma stood their holding the baby motioning me to come outside! a little taken aback but not completely surprised, i got dressed and went out to find them packed up ready to go. i was very grateful that they woke me up. they had also prepared breakfast for me and Tiff. the hospitality here is so genuine i’ve never experienced anything like it before. a roti and very good omelet filled me right up and it took a bit of persistence for them to take no for an answer that i was in fact not going to eat any more!
we had tea and packed up and got back on the bikes and made our way home to join the team. a better drive but by bottom being very very sore. i nearly hit a goat and a lady but made it safely with no injuries on me or others. the problem is the bikes are quite high and my feet don’t touch the ground so stopping and starting are somewhat challenging! also my very heavy backpack was strapped to the little ledge on the back of the seat which threw off my balance a little, but again God kept us and the rest of villagers safe!
i did ANC that morning, and then got to relax for the afternoon. sunday we had church and spent the afternoon cleaning and then me and Naomi went to the village market to buy some grocery’s and use the internet. my second time online. its not possible to use my computer there and its easier to write out these updates on my computer so sorry you had to wait so long to read them. sunday i really wanted to call home but couldn’t find anywhere to get enough credit for the phone so no call.
monday, day off. sleeping,shower, movie, shower, eat, shower, movie, shower, eat. and going and checking in at the hospital to see if they are any women labouring. there are none today. its almost seven pm now, power off. very hot. but feeling rested which is nice, ready to start another week here at Bollobhpur!
till next time...
week forty - Bollobhpur
as we’re split up and are rotating each week this week i was at our ‘home base’ located at Bollobhpur hospital. the week went by pretty slow monday being our day off was spent literally doing nothing and just resting! so nice! then tuesday me and Liz had early shift which meant being at the hospital from 7am-1pm. we got their, listened to the night reading and then went to chapel with the girls which lasts only 20-30mins. things at the hospital we’re really slow this week.
spending most of our shifts crocheting hats, hanging out with the nursing students and new moms with their babies. the dedication that these girls have to their schooling is incredible. we learnt that they are not allowed to be in a relationship (dating), they are not allowed cell phones and they are also not allowed to cook for themselves but have to eat what is prepared when its prepared. it seems like a very strict program, and its four years long! i have given up only a year for the BAS and i can’t imagine not having the limitations that these girls have. but they do have lots of fun together and they are incredibly hospitable to us. although some can be quite cheeky and forward, but all in good fun! one girl tried to feed me an unripe mango by shoving it into my pursed lips. she pushed so hard that my lips were sore after. i did not want it. i told her ‘i do not like’ and she mocked me and laughed, i then told her ‘ i do not like...’ and i pushed my fingers into her lips just as hard as she had to me. i think she got the hint because then she gave me the ‘thumbs up’ which here is equivalent to the middle finger back home! her and the girls around her laughed as i made a ‘shocked’ face. i started laughing with them... whatcha gonna do? they are slowly understanding us a little more and we are them. they tend to come over a lot and at any time. they stand at our open door and yell ‘i come in?’ and then proceed to walk right in! the other day i was awoken from a nap with a girl knocking on my bedroom door i peered out to see her grandmother, mother, aunty and nephew just chilling in our living room! its quite comical but can also become annoying if you let it get to ya.
as for hospital work... there wasn’t much to do. me and liz did two mornings at an antenatal clinic and checked over seventy women in total. it wasn’t till saturday that four women were in labour! i decided to continue monitoring ‘my mom’ into the night doing hourly check ups and hanging out with her through her contractions. at midnight i had to go home and eat something to stay awake then went back, Celia gave me her cell number and told me to call when she started pushing, Bek did too. around one thirty am and lots of walking laps around the hospital (small building) the nurse looked at me and said ‘okay’ i assumed she meant ‘fully dilated and ready to push’ she did. i called Celia, who tried to wake up Bek but failed. so Celia came and helped me out. it was a good delivery, the mom did amazing, baby cried right away! beautiful little boy again! and 3.1kg! usually the bangla babies are around 2.5kg so he was quite a chunker to their standards! born at 2:05am! got to bed around 3:30am and took awhile to fall asleep as you usually are on a little of an adrenaline rush after a delivery!
the other not so exciting news of the week, there is a rat in our bathroom... its started around wednesday when me and liz gave our house a deep clean, we noticed a few droppings on the floor. then friday we had droppings in the sink with chew and claw marks on the soap... by sunday a small handful of droppings sat in the sink with more soap scrapes and also claw marks on the wall where he attempts to get home. i’m hoping we can get some poison, those of you who know me know how terrified i am of those critters. luckily we have two bathrooms and i know use the other. we also have many large spiders but i’m not too worried about those! we also have a birds nest in the wall of our room, their are these vents all over the house and the birds have chosen the one in our room to build a nest! not a fan of being woken up to the chitter chatter of them so we attempted to get rid of the nest... failed. so we jammed sticks into the holes...failed. so we tried sound blocking by shoving toilet paper into the holes to try and diminish the sound... sorta worked!
one more story about animals... the monkeys. terrifying!!! the other day we wanted to go to the hospital to check on the mom’s we delivered the day before and when we walked outside the monkeys were guarding the wall around the gate out. we walked slowly and carefully but once we got near they hissed at us and barred their teeth, which sent us running back. i picked up a rock thinking i could scare them off. no such luck. we waited until something must have scared them off and they took off running. i was first one to check it out and got through the gate only to find the tree nearby held a dozen monkeys all chattering at me! the girls all made it through the gate and we ran for it making it safely away without being attacked! monkey’s are not nice creatures, we’ve seen them get mean and heard stories of attacks! hence the caution we took!
its funny sometimes i feel like i’m living in the olden days, cooking over the fire and having to pump water outside to have a cold bucket shower! (when the power goes off it doesn’t take long before the water stops inside the house) when me and liz decided to clean the house we washed floors with a bucket and rags. deciding to make it more fun we put the rags on our feet and skated around wiping the floor as we went. some of the nursing students dropped by and stared at for a food few minuets before leaving. i’m sure they think we’re strange for the things we do and how we dress around our house wearing shorts and tank tops! so scandalous! (when we go out we have to wear shawl kameez (long shirt, baggy pants and a scarf))
we also have a night time guard named Beboo... he’s a funny man who doesn’t speak a word of english and thinks we understand his bangla perfectly... we nod and say our ‘hei’ and ‘nei’s’ at appropriate times and he laughs and its all good! he basically says the same thing each night wanting to make sure our door is locked and the outside light on. he loves Bed and often brings her a handful of nuts. probably cuz she’s the one who talks to him the most! but he hands her the nuts through the fence around our outside hallway and makes us feel somewhat like a caged monkey in the zoo!
i’ve been making friends and having a lot of fun! craving cheese, something i haven’t had in a while! the girls found kit kat bars at the big market and that was my first chocolate in three weeks! (record for me!) doing well and looking forward to head to Karpasdanga again next week. although its my first week not with Naomi! thanks for your prayers!
till next time...
spending most of our shifts crocheting hats, hanging out with the nursing students and new moms with their babies. the dedication that these girls have to their schooling is incredible. we learnt that they are not allowed to be in a relationship (dating), they are not allowed cell phones and they are also not allowed to cook for themselves but have to eat what is prepared when its prepared. it seems like a very strict program, and its four years long! i have given up only a year for the BAS and i can’t imagine not having the limitations that these girls have. but they do have lots of fun together and they are incredibly hospitable to us. although some can be quite cheeky and forward, but all in good fun! one girl tried to feed me an unripe mango by shoving it into my pursed lips. she pushed so hard that my lips were sore after. i did not want it. i told her ‘i do not like’ and she mocked me and laughed, i then told her ‘ i do not like...’ and i pushed my fingers into her lips just as hard as she had to me. i think she got the hint because then she gave me the ‘thumbs up’ which here is equivalent to the middle finger back home! her and the girls around her laughed as i made a ‘shocked’ face. i started laughing with them... whatcha gonna do? they are slowly understanding us a little more and we are them. they tend to come over a lot and at any time. they stand at our open door and yell ‘i come in?’ and then proceed to walk right in! the other day i was awoken from a nap with a girl knocking on my bedroom door i peered out to see her grandmother, mother, aunty and nephew just chilling in our living room! its quite comical but can also become annoying if you let it get to ya.
as for hospital work... there wasn’t much to do. me and liz did two mornings at an antenatal clinic and checked over seventy women in total. it wasn’t till saturday that four women were in labour! i decided to continue monitoring ‘my mom’ into the night doing hourly check ups and hanging out with her through her contractions. at midnight i had to go home and eat something to stay awake then went back, Celia gave me her cell number and told me to call when she started pushing, Bek did too. around one thirty am and lots of walking laps around the hospital (small building) the nurse looked at me and said ‘okay’ i assumed she meant ‘fully dilated and ready to push’ she did. i called Celia, who tried to wake up Bek but failed. so Celia came and helped me out. it was a good delivery, the mom did amazing, baby cried right away! beautiful little boy again! and 3.1kg! usually the bangla babies are around 2.5kg so he was quite a chunker to their standards! born at 2:05am! got to bed around 3:30am and took awhile to fall asleep as you usually are on a little of an adrenaline rush after a delivery!
the other not so exciting news of the week, there is a rat in our bathroom... its started around wednesday when me and liz gave our house a deep clean, we noticed a few droppings on the floor. then friday we had droppings in the sink with chew and claw marks on the soap... by sunday a small handful of droppings sat in the sink with more soap scrapes and also claw marks on the wall where he attempts to get home. i’m hoping we can get some poison, those of you who know me know how terrified i am of those critters. luckily we have two bathrooms and i know use the other. we also have many large spiders but i’m not too worried about those! we also have a birds nest in the wall of our room, their are these vents all over the house and the birds have chosen the one in our room to build a nest! not a fan of being woken up to the chitter chatter of them so we attempted to get rid of the nest... failed. so we jammed sticks into the holes...failed. so we tried sound blocking by shoving toilet paper into the holes to try and diminish the sound... sorta worked!
one more story about animals... the monkeys. terrifying!!! the other day we wanted to go to the hospital to check on the mom’s we delivered the day before and when we walked outside the monkeys were guarding the wall around the gate out. we walked slowly and carefully but once we got near they hissed at us and barred their teeth, which sent us running back. i picked up a rock thinking i could scare them off. no such luck. we waited until something must have scared them off and they took off running. i was first one to check it out and got through the gate only to find the tree nearby held a dozen monkeys all chattering at me! the girls all made it through the gate and we ran for it making it safely away without being attacked! monkey’s are not nice creatures, we’ve seen them get mean and heard stories of attacks! hence the caution we took!
its funny sometimes i feel like i’m living in the olden days, cooking over the fire and having to pump water outside to have a cold bucket shower! (when the power goes off it doesn’t take long before the water stops inside the house) when me and liz decided to clean the house we washed floors with a bucket and rags. deciding to make it more fun we put the rags on our feet and skated around wiping the floor as we went. some of the nursing students dropped by and stared at for a food few minuets before leaving. i’m sure they think we’re strange for the things we do and how we dress around our house wearing shorts and tank tops! so scandalous! (when we go out we have to wear shawl kameez (long shirt, baggy pants and a scarf))
we also have a night time guard named Beboo... he’s a funny man who doesn’t speak a word of english and thinks we understand his bangla perfectly... we nod and say our ‘hei’ and ‘nei’s’ at appropriate times and he laughs and its all good! he basically says the same thing each night wanting to make sure our door is locked and the outside light on. he loves Bed and often brings her a handful of nuts. probably cuz she’s the one who talks to him the most! but he hands her the nuts through the fence around our outside hallway and makes us feel somewhat like a caged monkey in the zoo!
i’ve been making friends and having a lot of fun! craving cheese, something i haven’t had in a while! the girls found kit kat bars at the big market and that was my first chocolate in three weeks! (record for me!) doing well and looking forward to head to Karpasdanga again next week. although its my first week not with Naomi! thanks for your prayers!
till next time...
week thirty nine - Karpasdanga
week thirty nine
Karpasdanga
first full week of strait on bangla! me and Naomi left on saturday to where we thought we were going to a certain village but once on the ‘van’ (bike with platform attached where we sit) we were told something entirely different. so we do what all good ywamer’s do and went along for the ride!
we got there and were immediately welcomed and given a tour and fed. it was a small clinic with the house of the couple who run/own it on the same property. Benuka and her husband Kilion. Benuka was trained with the british lady who has been living here in Bangladesh for over sixty years training young women to become midwives/nurses. she now has her own clinic where the nursing students come to get more training and practice. the stories i could tell would go on and on and i’m afraid would get a bit too much to read. overall we had a really good week. Benuka is an amazing women who with her little english is very humorous. she laughs constantly and loved us so much she offered us a job! we had a lot of fun with the nursing student hanging out during the storms and playing games in the dark cause electricity was out.
in the mornings Kilion would take us out to a village to do antenatal visits. usually seeing anywhere between four and ten women. it was really fun to do our own antenatal care even if it was a bit difficult with the language barrier. one day on the way back we got caught in a huge storm. the wind picked up and rain pelted us and our driver (bike, pedal bike) couldn’t pedal anymore so we got off and tried to walk. we ended up hoping into a trailer of a tractor who brought us to the nearest road side stand where we stood with many others trying to get out of the rain. we were drenched when we finally made it back to the clinic and the nursing students came to help us dry off. one problem though we had put our clothes in a bucket of water for washing before we left and didn’t have time to fully wash them. so with only two sets of clothes, one in the bucket, one soaked on our backs we tried to explain to them we had no dry clothes. they got the hint and one girl went off and came back with dry clothes and blankets and the other girl started doing our washing for us! we were very well taken care of.
they are a very hospitable culture, always serving you. they didn’t let us do our dishes or even pour our own tea. a few times they let us cook and thought it very strange when we didn’t put any spices on our potatoes. they washed our floor for us and made sure we didn’t drink any unfiltered water. we did a few home visits and they always provided us with food and tea of course. we learnt that suicide is very prevalent here. one women we worked with in the clinic told us her daughter hung herself two years ago when she was only fourteen years old. we prayed with her and cried with her, it seemed so very real still to her. we have also seen it here in the hospital where we are living at (our home base) people being brought in because they have drunken chemicals trying to end their lives. one died just yesterday. with her family wailing outside the hospital, just to hear their cries is enough to make you cry. its weird to think in one room a life is ending and just next door a new one begins.
i got the chance to do two deliveries this week. one at the little clinic (on my mom’s birthday!) and one this past saturday (yesterday) in the hospital. both little boys, first born to their moms! its a very different system here. they conduct deliveries differently. their are many hands involved and many people watching. their a bit more stressed and tend to overreact in many situations. we’re getting used to it and their getting used to us so it is getting better. my first delivery was stressful just with how many people were involved but this last one was much better. communication is key!
it is nice though that family is very much involved in the laboring process. mothers, mother in-law's, sisters, aunty’s and even the husband and grandparents come and offer support and all want to see the baby when their born. the men usually come, look at the baby, nod their head in approval and walk off. the women are much more involved and are rubbing the mothers back, offering her food and water and anything else she needs. they tend to never leave her side apart form the delivery room where there not allowed in. the mothers especially stay with their daughter as she labour’s and cares for the newborn for up to a seven day stay in the hospital, even sleeping over with her. its really nice to see such support from the family.
today we went as a team to the India border. theres a monument of how Bangladesh got its independence. you can walk around and there is also a field of mango tree’s, there not in season yet but soon. there is a fence just beyond the monument and on the other side lays India! kinda neat to see how close we are!
next week i go with Jen back to Karpasdanga but for a shorter amount of time. i look forward to seeing familiar faces again!
till next time...
Karpasdanga
first full week of strait on bangla! me and Naomi left on saturday to where we thought we were going to a certain village but once on the ‘van’ (bike with platform attached where we sit) we were told something entirely different. so we do what all good ywamer’s do and went along for the ride!
we got there and were immediately welcomed and given a tour and fed. it was a small clinic with the house of the couple who run/own it on the same property. Benuka and her husband Kilion. Benuka was trained with the british lady who has been living here in Bangladesh for over sixty years training young women to become midwives/nurses. she now has her own clinic where the nursing students come to get more training and practice. the stories i could tell would go on and on and i’m afraid would get a bit too much to read. overall we had a really good week. Benuka is an amazing women who with her little english is very humorous. she laughs constantly and loved us so much she offered us a job! we had a lot of fun with the nursing student hanging out during the storms and playing games in the dark cause electricity was out.
in the mornings Kilion would take us out to a village to do antenatal visits. usually seeing anywhere between four and ten women. it was really fun to do our own antenatal care even if it was a bit difficult with the language barrier. one day on the way back we got caught in a huge storm. the wind picked up and rain pelted us and our driver (bike, pedal bike) couldn’t pedal anymore so we got off and tried to walk. we ended up hoping into a trailer of a tractor who brought us to the nearest road side stand where we stood with many others trying to get out of the rain. we were drenched when we finally made it back to the clinic and the nursing students came to help us dry off. one problem though we had put our clothes in a bucket of water for washing before we left and didn’t have time to fully wash them. so with only two sets of clothes, one in the bucket, one soaked on our backs we tried to explain to them we had no dry clothes. they got the hint and one girl went off and came back with dry clothes and blankets and the other girl started doing our washing for us! we were very well taken care of.
they are a very hospitable culture, always serving you. they didn’t let us do our dishes or even pour our own tea. a few times they let us cook and thought it very strange when we didn’t put any spices on our potatoes. they washed our floor for us and made sure we didn’t drink any unfiltered water. we did a few home visits and they always provided us with food and tea of course. we learnt that suicide is very prevalent here. one women we worked with in the clinic told us her daughter hung herself two years ago when she was only fourteen years old. we prayed with her and cried with her, it seemed so very real still to her. we have also seen it here in the hospital where we are living at (our home base) people being brought in because they have drunken chemicals trying to end their lives. one died just yesterday. with her family wailing outside the hospital, just to hear their cries is enough to make you cry. its weird to think in one room a life is ending and just next door a new one begins.
i got the chance to do two deliveries this week. one at the little clinic (on my mom’s birthday!) and one this past saturday (yesterday) in the hospital. both little boys, first born to their moms! its a very different system here. they conduct deliveries differently. their are many hands involved and many people watching. their a bit more stressed and tend to overreact in many situations. we’re getting used to it and their getting used to us so it is getting better. my first delivery was stressful just with how many people were involved but this last one was much better. communication is key!
it is nice though that family is very much involved in the laboring process. mothers, mother in-law's, sisters, aunty’s and even the husband and grandparents come and offer support and all want to see the baby when their born. the men usually come, look at the baby, nod their head in approval and walk off. the women are much more involved and are rubbing the mothers back, offering her food and water and anything else she needs. they tend to never leave her side apart form the delivery room where there not allowed in. the mothers especially stay with their daughter as she labour’s and cares for the newborn for up to a seven day stay in the hospital, even sleeping over with her. its really nice to see such support from the family.
today we went as a team to the India border. theres a monument of how Bangladesh got its independence. you can walk around and there is also a field of mango tree’s, there not in season yet but soon. there is a fence just beyond the monument and on the other side lays India! kinda neat to see how close we are!
next week i go with Jen back to Karpasdanga but for a shorter amount of time. i look forward to seeing familiar faces again!
till next time...
week thirty eight - Bangladesh
okay so we’ve made it, all seven of us. we left Tanzania on sunday around five thirty in the evening and arrived in Bangladesh on monday at eight in the morning. We were met at the airport by an american women who lives here with her husband and we stayed with her for the first few nights. It was a nice smooth entry into a new country. things are similar to Tanzania but the culture is very different. the people are so welcoming and so smiley and instead of shouting out at us they rather flock and stare and giggle with us. we had a bit of an orientation and went shopping to purchase our salw kameez. (the outfits we have to wear here. a long shirt to the knee’s, baggy pants and a scarf) it was fun to go out and shop for “new clothes” but a little overwhelming at the same time!
we also had dinner at one of our girls uncle’s who lives here and it was really refreshing to chat with her family and the friends they invited over.
we left on wednesday for what was supposed to be a six hour ride was actually nine. with honking the ENTIRE way. seems they need to warn people and fellow cars that ‘they are coming so you better move’. our tire also blew but our driver was very quick to fix it and during this minor ‘pit stop’ we met some lovely ladies who were collecting cow poop and drying it in small balls on the concrete slab on the side of the road. very interesting. they seemed pleased to meet us and thought it funny when one of us got scared after talking to the cow and having it moo in our face. we were back on the road and after a long drive and it becoming dark on us we arrived.
where you might ask did we arrive? well we are in the middle of no where... its a small community with a hospital (very small) and a nurses school. there are many nursing students, all of which are VERY excited we are here. they keep stopping by our house i think to see if we’re still here! on friday we were preparing dinner and a small mob of them walked in and all of sudden they had taken over my rolling of chapatis and continuing to laugh at our ‘circle’ chapatis! (they weren’t as round as i suppose they thought they should be? and they kept trying to cut them into rectangles!) we then preceded to have a ‘dance party’ and they actually joined it! quite entertaining!
living in the middle of no where is also a little difficult in finding food. we’re in survival mode here! cooking over a small fire and trying to find veggies to cook has been more difficult then i think we imagined. with no paper or kindling to start the fire and limited matches it makes for a difficult time especially when your tummy’s are grumbling. (i know i made fires all my life but this is no ordinary fire place) so far we’ve eaten a lot of boiled eggs and bread. we found some cucumbers which was nice and the village has apples and oranges! we had quite the difficulty shopping and finding things so we embraced the help of the bangla women and gave them our shopping list and they were able to find some of the items we need!
there are not enough spoons, cups or beds for all of us, so we share spoons or eat with our hands, drink out of our bottles that we’ve filtered our water in and sleep three in one double bed and one on the couch! its an adventure for sure. there are even monkey’s that come to hang out on the wall just outside the house we live in. the other day we counted fourteen monkey’s, including three babies!
electricity is an on and off again game... more off than on but the nice thing is there is solar power so some of the rooms still have lights that work even when the power is out. its mainly the fans that don’t work, which is sad because then its really hot especially in the three person bed! we have running water! praise the Lord!!! which we filter to drink but its fine to wash dishes, clothes and ourselves in. its quite hot and apparently going to get even hotter. theres a well pump outside our house that we often dunk our heads under and them pump it to make the water come! its funny because people at home put these pumps up for decoration in their front yards, here its a reality. the bed is all but a wooden table with a small ‘mattress’. its difficult to lay on your side for a long period of time because your hips will be extremely sore. mosquito's are pretty bad at night but not too bad during the day and we have nets to sleep under so they don’t get to ya in your bed.
we’ve had a bit of a difficult time getting information from our contact here, a british women in her eighties that has been here for sixty years, but friday we were finally able to figure things out! (today is friday as i write this!) and so tomorrow me and naomi head off to another village hospital to stay for the week. the rest of our team will stay here and work in the hospital and two will leave on tuesday for a third village to work in that hospital. we’re not sure what to expect. this area has not had any foreigners since the last BAS that came nearly ten years ago! we’ve been invited and are expected at these other hospitals and hopefully they will give us the experience that we still crave to have in midwifery!
its an adventure for sure, and i find it interesting that after my dts outreach i thought i’d never want to be in this kind of place again, but somehow i’m finding a strength i didn’t know i had and a joy to be here that can only come from God. through sweat, mosquito bites and trying to find my way through a foreign language i will get through this, i know God has brought our team here, and he has some kind of plan for us!
till next time...
we also had dinner at one of our girls uncle’s who lives here and it was really refreshing to chat with her family and the friends they invited over.
we left on wednesday for what was supposed to be a six hour ride was actually nine. with honking the ENTIRE way. seems they need to warn people and fellow cars that ‘they are coming so you better move’. our tire also blew but our driver was very quick to fix it and during this minor ‘pit stop’ we met some lovely ladies who were collecting cow poop and drying it in small balls on the concrete slab on the side of the road. very interesting. they seemed pleased to meet us and thought it funny when one of us got scared after talking to the cow and having it moo in our face. we were back on the road and after a long drive and it becoming dark on us we arrived.
where you might ask did we arrive? well we are in the middle of no where... its a small community with a hospital (very small) and a nurses school. there are many nursing students, all of which are VERY excited we are here. they keep stopping by our house i think to see if we’re still here! on friday we were preparing dinner and a small mob of them walked in and all of sudden they had taken over my rolling of chapatis and continuing to laugh at our ‘circle’ chapatis! (they weren’t as round as i suppose they thought they should be? and they kept trying to cut them into rectangles!) we then preceded to have a ‘dance party’ and they actually joined it! quite entertaining!
living in the middle of no where is also a little difficult in finding food. we’re in survival mode here! cooking over a small fire and trying to find veggies to cook has been more difficult then i think we imagined. with no paper or kindling to start the fire and limited matches it makes for a difficult time especially when your tummy’s are grumbling. (i know i made fires all my life but this is no ordinary fire place) so far we’ve eaten a lot of boiled eggs and bread. we found some cucumbers which was nice and the village has apples and oranges! we had quite the difficulty shopping and finding things so we embraced the help of the bangla women and gave them our shopping list and they were able to find some of the items we need!
there are not enough spoons, cups or beds for all of us, so we share spoons or eat with our hands, drink out of our bottles that we’ve filtered our water in and sleep three in one double bed and one on the couch! its an adventure for sure. there are even monkey’s that come to hang out on the wall just outside the house we live in. the other day we counted fourteen monkey’s, including three babies!
electricity is an on and off again game... more off than on but the nice thing is there is solar power so some of the rooms still have lights that work even when the power is out. its mainly the fans that don’t work, which is sad because then its really hot especially in the three person bed! we have running water! praise the Lord!!! which we filter to drink but its fine to wash dishes, clothes and ourselves in. its quite hot and apparently going to get even hotter. theres a well pump outside our house that we often dunk our heads under and them pump it to make the water come! its funny because people at home put these pumps up for decoration in their front yards, here its a reality. the bed is all but a wooden table with a small ‘mattress’. its difficult to lay on your side for a long period of time because your hips will be extremely sore. mosquito's are pretty bad at night but not too bad during the day and we have nets to sleep under so they don’t get to ya in your bed.
we’ve had a bit of a difficult time getting information from our contact here, a british women in her eighties that has been here for sixty years, but friday we were finally able to figure things out! (today is friday as i write this!) and so tomorrow me and naomi head off to another village hospital to stay for the week. the rest of our team will stay here and work in the hospital and two will leave on tuesday for a third village to work in that hospital. we’re not sure what to expect. this area has not had any foreigners since the last BAS that came nearly ten years ago! we’ve been invited and are expected at these other hospitals and hopefully they will give us the experience that we still crave to have in midwifery!
its an adventure for sure, and i find it interesting that after my dts outreach i thought i’d never want to be in this kind of place again, but somehow i’m finding a strength i didn’t know i had and a joy to be here that can only come from God. through sweat, mosquito bites and trying to find my way through a foreign language i will get through this, i know God has brought our team here, and he has some kind of plan for us!
till next time...
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