TBAs

6/7/2014

Long day! Highlight was meeting the newest member of the village.  She is just a few days old. It gave me a great chance to talk with the TBA (Traditional Birth Attendant/ Lay Midwife) and plant the idea of some additional training and supplies for them. Up to this point they have been very hesitant to even meet with me. I know there are a lot of cultural practices attached to childbirth here and I think they are afraid that I'm going to tell them to stop doing things that are very important in their minds. And it will be a challenge because there are practices, like packing a newly cut umbilical cord with cow dung, that I'm going to try to change. So, I’ll have to move slowly.  But I spent the whole day together with them, we headed out to their gardens at 5am and weeded for hours, then went together to the spring to carry water.  I could really see how being together with them increased their trust in me. However, it didn’t really increase our ability to communicate. I still have a lot of language learning ahead of me!

Also managed to medicate 85+ children for worms. Took a bit of time to weigh a few of the babies that look malnourished. I’ll see if lowering the parasite load is enough to help them or if I need to find a way to be a bit more aggressive with treatment.

This evening 6 of the girls showed up at my house and announced they were going to sleep with me. Well! After a bit of discussion they managed to convey that they were worried about me being in danger and lonely. I think I convinced them that I don’t mind sleeping alone but it did give us a chance to pray together for safety for the night and then they wanted to sing. Which attracted 25% of the rest of the village to come sing.