All in a week's work...

it's the end of a special week at mulago hospital, ward 14. i should mention for those of you who may be cinema-savvy, that the hospital i am working in is the one in that king of scotland movie...i will have to see it one of these days. that can help y'all picture where i am perhaps!

monday - i was stabbed with a pen and spanked a few times by a crusty local midwife; i would have spanked her back if i wasn't struck still by my disbelief. the day was so frustrating, as i just kept my elbows out to push away midwives trying to cut episiotomies in women's vaginas who certainly didn't need the cut! the midwives can be so blatantly abusive, it's absolutely sickening. women abusing vulnerable women. violence in birth. i can't handle it.

tuesday - a rainy afternoon. i listened to babies fast little heart beats through big bellies in a quiet labour ward. the calmness was needed.

wednesday - i chat with a local restaurant owner who shivers when i tell him that i am a student midwife. i ask why. he tells me that midwives are ruthless and violent. this reply rings familiar with the local belief that the midwife is a woman's worst enemy. i go into work in the afternoon and have a chat with the head midwife on the ward, pleading for some support for a revolution. she's so rad and she is totally supportive of learning more gentle approaches to birth

thursday - incredible. it's a slow day on the ward, permitting some time for teaching and disussion. after discussing some clinical issues (incorrect drug regimes, some obstetrical emergencies, the need to stop cutting episiotomies!), i got to have a sweet little rant about midwives being privileged to do the blessed work that we do. most of these women are christian, so i talked their talk and ranted about the incredible responsibility we have as god's servants to invite new human beings onto the planet in peace and without violence. i talked about sisterhood between midwives and the women we support, and the need to make one of life's most challenging experiences as pleasant for women as possible. the few nods of agreement that i saw were enough to make me swell with bubbles of joy. even if they are a little kinder to one or two women this week, that's important.

and by friday... - the midwives are stepping back and watching. they are interested in the differences between how we catch babies and the midwife who stabbed me on monday now has given me her name and calls me sister.



wow.