Between joy, fun and disgust

Tuesday, 28.08.2018

The days in the clinic have been very tough so far and to be honest, I didn't really feel like going to the hospital in the morning. This place is just too unpleasant to receive new life and I haven't had good experiences with the nurses so far.

But today I was able to work very independently. A nice nurse was on duty with me, she, like everyone here, didn't invent work, but at least let me take care of the woman in peace, conduct the birth alone, and even listened to my tips on childbirth and hygiene.

A girl was born. It was a particularly happy moment for the woman. It was her third birth, but her two previous children died during childbirth. It's so cruel that it's everyday life here for women to experience these sad situations. Even the top section in the mother's passport consists of: How many pregnancies? / How many births? / How many children are still alive?

Every time this question sends a shiver down my spine.

In Germany, of course, we also ask how many children someone has, but we always assume that they are healthy and alive. How precious a healthy child is, of course, I was aware of before, but it is only really brought home to me here!

Motivated and happy, I continued on with the day. Sterilizing the necessary instruments for the birth was next. There is hardly anything more unhygienic. In the end, there is a table where all the instruments are left to drain - those are then basically the clean instruments. I wanted to put something there and a bug crawled towards me. Not only are all the instruments rusty and definitely not sterile, but even beetles/cockroaches/spiders live on them. I could have vomited on the spot. It can't possibly be serious, I thought!? I spare you the picture, I don't think it's suitable for weak stomachs.

I have to come up with something..

After the shock and the beautiful birth, the last two hours were quiet. So I clean, just to somehow get the feeling of establishing basic hygiene..

But the good thing here is that you always have someone to talk to. I arrived 'at home' and could report. Linda (my host mother, who is actually two years younger than me) wanted to change her hairstyle. Tanzanian women all have short hair and braid in fake hair. I was supposed to help her remove the hair and we had a lot of fun with the 'remnants'. I got to wash and take care of her hair, you can't imagine how this hair structure feels.

I find it fascinating.. we are all humans, but things like skin color, texture, and hair structure are so completely different because they have adapted to the conditions of sun and dryness. It somehow fascinates me. Since she was allowed to use my shampoo, she was thrilled like a child that she would now have 'Mzungo hair' 😅

So the day ended on a fun note.