Outreach to Chisale

A couple of weeks ago we joined 5 Zambian midwifery students, one ZEM (Zambian Enrolled Midwife) and one nurse to Chisale to do an outreach clinic. We all crammed into one of the hospital jeeps with supplies and food piled on our laps. Zambian gospel blared from the speakers and everyone sang. To be respectful to the older women in the community we all wore Chitenga’s. The student midwives had laughed hysterically at us as we tried to tie them onto our waists. Even Sister Charity came in the morning to wish us a successful day. Chisale outreach clinic is slow so we had a lot of time to do other things as well. After arriving, we set up clinic in a school room. Making a bed out of desks and a thin mattress we had brought. There were 3 stations: weighing babies & vaccinations, HIV counselling and testing (which is called PMTCT {prevention of maternal to child transmission}), and finally antenatal clinic which included giving medications for worms & tetnus, vitamins for women who looked pale or unwell, checking blood pressure and weight gain as well as listening to the fetus and asking the mothers, “Mwana ayenda mumala?” (Is your baby moving?). We would then reassure the women by saying, “Ali beuno mwana” (Your baby is well). As it was known that the women come later in this community we decided to go for a walk to the damn. It was stunning walking through banana and mango groves. Along the way we saw men making bricks out of mud. When we arrived at the damn we met a man whose job it is to make sure the weeds don’t take over the water. He had a “canoe” that looked worse for wear! The gardens surrounding the water were quite magnificent with bright green leafy vegetables and tomatoes growing well. Marijke was able to meet two local Namwinos (Traditional birth attendents) and do interviews with them. It was interesting because neither of them was trained and yet they had a wealth of knowledge to share. Language was hard so Marijke had one of the student midwives translate.

The rest of the day was spent attending women and babies as well as learning how to eat sugar cane (which is quite yummy but hard on the teeth!), shell plenty of groundnuts (peanuts) and dance with the local children. We sang and danced with so many children. Mostly, we danced to their local songs but near the end of the day we taught them how to do the Hokey Pokey. At first they were looking at us like we had 6 heads but once the children started to dance they all had a lot of fun. That was one of the best parts of the day to see the joy on so many faces.