Settled in Mota

Settled in Mota

After some busy days and some trouble with the internet I hope today I will be able to upload some pictures from Mota.
The past days were very busy, sometimes at the ward, and sometimes socially. We had some days with quite a few deliveries and I like to stay around and see how the midwives work and see if the things de former midwives tried to get into their routine are done, like taking notes, administering medication on time, keeping things clean etc… . I don’t really like to do this, because it easily seems like I am controlling and commanding. And that is not what I pretend to do. And of course I sometimes wonder if it makes any difference: Why keep notes, when nobody will ever use them again in most of the cases, because the file is impossible to find back at a following visit? Adrienne, the new doctor from Holland, is kind of right, when she says that we should try to keep up at least some standard. But still, those things seem so important to us and even so unquestionably normal (like hand washing, keeping enough stock of materials, clean a doptone after use…). But here, they do not seem to be that much important. We tend to see our own way of doing as golden standard. And in the examples I just named, I would fully subscribe to it. But is it the right way to think like that? That puzzles me. So I would like to find out what the point of view of the midwives is and what their interests and wishes are.
In Holland I had a very good training on facilitation and teaching methods thanks Kerk in Actie. So I hope to make use of the skills I learned. But somehow I am a bit doubtful if I will be able to get my fellow midwives here to openly talk about their point of view. I wish I will find the courage to do a workshop or group discussion with them. The Ethiopians are so polite calm and often not used to express their opinion, especially when it might not be what they think one wants to hear. Most of you know me: I am rather straight forward, sometimes even too much. I therefore feel a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing.
Adding to this, I heard that some midwives last year found me too “present” or “pushing”. I wish I had heard that earlier, so I could have tried to adapt my attitude. Because that is the last thing I wished to be. And being present more often on the ward seems to be logical if my task is to stimulate and motivate the midwives to follow certain protocols, take notes etc. So I will have to find a way to be present and point out things, without being to strict or dominant or pushing (or however I could call it.) Otherwise there would be very little to do for me and I would feel completely useless. I don’t want to be just a companion for the gynecologist to feel less “alone”.
At least Adrienne is now teaching me a bit how to do ultrasounds, e.g. to determine the position of the baby, or confirm vital pregnancies. It always looks so easy, but I have to concentrate very well and still cannot always get good views for the respective purpose. I hope that the next 2 months will provide me with plenty of practice.
Furthermore we had some situations at the ward that showed me that some teaching on specific matters would be very appropriate, concerning for example resuscitation of a newborn, treatment of hypertension … . So I think as long as the midwives are motivated, we can still be of some use, now that we got the good news that the hospital will get an own, Ethiopian, surgeon.
Socially we had a very nice time. On Dr. David’s last day we went for a stroll to the waterfall and on the way met some farmers treading and winnowing the teff. We were invited to have a special pancake like bread, made for this occasion, and drink T’alla, the local “beer” (the only thing it has in common with “our” beer is that is made from barley). I often spend time with some other co-workers of the hospital, I met the family of one of the current doctors, have nice talks with other local doctors, we saw a soccer match and a volleyball match of the hospital team playing against other teams from Mota. Lately we had lunch at the house of the General Manager of the hospital. He is a very friendly person, speaks reasonably English and seems to be very willing to improve things. And compared to the GM we had last year, he is present most of the time. So whenever we have something to discuss or to ask, we can drop in at his office.
Like last year, Ethiopia is a very warm and welcoming country. And I hope I’ll be worth the warm welcome!