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...