Head socks, bibles and babies

So we have now been in Zambia for 1 week and 4 days! The journey here was amazing beginning with a long two day and two night plane trip. Marijke had her eyebrows plucked spontaneously by a crazy woman from Senegal in the London airport. They had been speaking Spanish/Portugeuse/English and she didn't know what was happening until it happened. We laughed for a long time after.

As we landed in Lusaka we were noticing a lot of police and men with large guns and red carpet. The Zambian President, Dr. Mwanawasa was on our plane!! It was quite exciting. Many women were dressed in traditional chechenga's (wraps) with MMD logos advertising the president's party. They were singing and dancing to welcome him home. We were the last ones through customs and luckily our ride hadn't left! Friends of our instructor, Cathy picked us up and helped us get oreinted to life in Lusaka. Geoffery took us to the Cha cha cha backpackers hostel and gave us a cell phone! He arrange transport for us and his wife Rose made us a delicious traditional meal of nshima and rebb.

Saturday morning we left for the bus at 5am. While we were sitting waiting for the bus to depart hawkers came on and off the bus offering to sell us anything from head socks (touques) to bibles to coca cola and cassette tapes. Not needing any of the above we gracefully declined, and the bus eventually left at 6:30am. It was full. Very full. There we many unexpected stops to pick up more and more people along the way. We made two friends on the bus. A man who wanted to come to Canada who works in the Copper belt (big minning centre in Zambia). The other was a family on their way to Chipata to attend their daughter's funeral. She and her baby had sadly died during childbirth.

No one was expecting us at the hospital when we first arrived but nonetheless we were warmly welcomed. Due to our unexpected arrival we ended up sleeping in a mansion (Zambian style). Their were many many ants in our mansion. After a few nights there we moved to our new home which is a round clay hut with a tin roof. Very small and very cozy. There are also a lot of ants there but we have succumbed to using ant killer in the form of aresol spray!!

After a few days of rest we began working on Monday at the hospital. Marijke is working on the antenatal/postnatal ward for this week and Aly is on labour ward. We have begun to learn some words and phrases in the local language Njanga. Some of the words we use the most are baby/mwana, push/muning, thank you/zi como, hello how are you/muli bwangi...

Marijke has done a lot of palpating of bellies and listening to fetal hearts with the pinard, which they call a fetoscope (a metal horn used to listen to fetal heart). She does baby checks 6hr postpartum, in order to discharge them. She made the mistake of asking about a baby's name and was then requested to name the baby. So, there is a little baby Malika (which means angel in Swahili), who went home with her mama yesterday. Marijke also did an outreach clinic in a nearby community where women come for antenatal checks, HIV testing, vaccinations and baby weighing. PMTCT or prevention of maternal to child transmission of HIV is one of the main reasons/focuses of the hospital in relation to maternity care. Marijke started her research with nmawinos (traditional birth attendents) and learned about various cultural practices. The one she thinks we should adpot in Canada, is the practice of women not being allowed to do any work until their baby's umbilical cord falls off, because it gives women time to rest and recover from their deliveries.

There are 10-20 babies born every 24 hours at St Francis. Aly has been working the morning shift starting at 7:30 and ending around 13:30. Sometimes there are tons of babies and sometimes we sit around and wait. An example of the women that we care for was the birth Aly attended yesterday. She had carried 8 babies, 7 of which she delivered at 7 months and all died. This baby was born 3500grams and very healthy! She was thrilled and also a bit scared. Her pregnancy was labelled BOH which we found out means Bad Obstetrical History. She was one of the waiters, who are women who have BOH or have had to travel from far away who live at the hospital waiting to have their babies. They are seen everyday. We palpate to see if the baby is breech or not and listen to make sure the fetal heart rate is present. One of the hardest things for Aly this week is not having the equipment we are used to to help newborns that need help breathing. One of the babies she helped deliver is in the special care unit and is very ill. The first birth Aly attended was a breech who danced her way out of her mama all on her own! It was beautiful!!

In general its rare to find a women aged 25 years with her first pregnancy, as many women are birthing 4, 5, 6, 7, babies by this time. We learned from the cab driver today the earliest marriages can happen at age 12. And one of the most popular forms of birth control after women have had +++ babies is bilateral tubal ligation, but in order to get one, the women's husband has to sign for it. This could be seen as patriarchal, but it is also a preventative strategy as as woman could be divorced from her husband or he could take another wife if she is seen as 'infertile'.

The land is beautiful. The people are amazing and the children love to see us and shake our hands. Everytime we pass a child they yell, "How are you?" and run after us. We are both really enjoying our time here even though at times it is incredibly difficult. Oh and by the way we both eat a lot of meat now!!

Send us emails and positive energy and we will post again when we are in Chipata!