12Jan

Teaching in Multiple Languages

FILED IN Congo 2008 1 Comment

I was really curious how the teaching would go, knowing the women who were coming would be from at least three different countries. As it turned out we had women speaking four languages attend, but most of them knew at least Swahili. The funniest day was Sunday, when Flory hosted a church service for the women. Flory was speaking Swahili, and one of the women was translating for us. But five minutes into his teaching a woman from Rwanda jumped up and complained that the other Rwandans could not understand him. So he taught in Swahili, she stood next to him and translated it to Rwandeze and our dear friend Akyasu translated that into English for us.

Even trying to give them forms to use to keep track of information proved a challenge. I had to write it out in English, explain the meanings to Flory and Georgette, and they had to translate it into two languages so the women understood what was being asked of them. We used a makeshift chalk board to write things out so they could see it.

We learned very quickly that question and answer sessions would be more difficult than anticipated too. Georgette was fantastic in trying to translate questions for us, but the cultural differences made many of the solutions we knew to be impracticable for the women or offensive to their husbands. It was a very slow learning process, which we hope ended with the women feeling equipped to find their own solutions to their problems.

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12Jan

Birth in a Clinic

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One of our saddest realizations was that the clinic, despite its best intentions, could do very little for the people of the community. There is no way to contact the doctors after they leave the clinic for the night, so birth emergencies may be better off happening at home except there is one nurse in the clinic all night, and he or she does have access to some supplies.

This is the supply shelf in the maternity room. If you don’t see it here, they don’t have it. This is actually very well stocked because a medical group from the US had just come and brought 19 suitcases of supplies with them.

This is the pharmacy in the clinic. Again, it is well stocked because of the group from the US that donated these medications.

Before you start thinking you need to get as many medical supplies as possible to send consider this item donated by a group in the United States. Their intentions were honorable, to save babies that are born premature. However their donation is not usable because there is no power at the clinic. The generator barely keeps the lights on, it cannot handle equipment like this.

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12Jan

Inside the House

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Tammy had enough foresight to take photos inside the places we stayed. I thought I would add these shots because they really display the cultural shock that met us on our journey. Do you remember the views from the house we stayed in while spending the night in Bukavu?

The house is in this photos, the white one behind the brick house:

Inside it is modern, and not modern.

For example, here is the living/dining room, fully equipped with satellite television.

But in the same house, right around the corner, is this kitchen:

There is running water, but no place to store food, no refrigeration (a mini-fringe was brought in by the owner to use while he was in town), and the cooking is done on a small electric hot plate.

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01Sep

Finances

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One of the things we needed to pay attention to with this trip is the amount of money it actually costs to do this. We had no idea how much money to budget, how much things cost or what types of bills we would need to pay. Thanks to the smart planning of my husband, we took extra money to cover the fees (extortion) that is just a way of life in the Congo.

So, as a recap, we paid for:

two Americans to travel to Central Africa, with the proper vaccinations, visas and evacuation insurance
35 women to travel to a conference center
use of the conference center meeting room and accommodations for 8 nights
Food for us and the 35 women (and their children, plus the extra help we had and the women who came in only for the day)
Materials for the attendees
Travel, hotels and food for us as we continued to explore the area and the culture – while making future plans after the conference
Incidental expenses (like the radio, video, use of the electricity, protection with police and army)

And the total cost to train the 53 midwives and beginning the planing for midwives in Central Africa: $15,000

This seems awfully high and really low at the same time. One thing to remember is that we spent about $6000 before we ever left the US, because we needed to travel to the area. We also needed special supplies like water filter bottles and malaria pills.

We will be much better prepared for the next trip.

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01Sep

Flights

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All was well with the world of airline travel until we attempted to leave Dulles airport. Tammy was scheduled to leave first, just a few hours after we arrived. I had a seat on a 5 o’clock flight, and opted to go stand-by on one that left a few hours earlier. We had a quick breakfast/lunch and said our good-byes.

Tammy’s flight boarded as scheduled, but had to wait for mechanical problems. Something with the brakes or landing gear I thought she said. They had one false take-off (went up and came right back down) which I’m sure was a bit off-putting, but Tammy made it to her next connection and is home safe and sound. I think her total travel time was 37 hours.

I didn’t get a seat on the earlier standby flight, so waited at the airport for the one I booked. There were, of course, mechanical issues with the plane and we would be boarding half an hour late. Still issues, wait another hour. Waiting on a part to come in on another plane… now we are waiting for the clearance to leave. My flight took off 4 and a half hours later than scheduled which got me home cranky and tired. I think my total travel time was 40 hours.

The exciting thing is neither of us suffered “jet lag” going either direction. Our secret – set your watch to the new time zone when you step into the airport and live by it. Then of course it helps to arrive at your destination in time to go to bed for the night and be exhausted enough to fall asleep.

11Aug

Notes of Thanks

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We were lucky enough to receive a variety of thank you notes from the women we trained, and between the three people who spoke both Swahili and English we got them translated. Here are a few excerpts:

“We have found that women are dying because of ignorance. We are promising you to teach or train others so that the number of deaths can decrease in Rwandas women.”

“We are promising to do whatever taught by Jennifer; she did not waste her time here”

“We thank those who contributed to rend this adventure a reality to enable millions of lives to be saved. All of Pastors; and church members have prayed since last year for this and God has answered our prayer.”

“We are happy because we know now how to serve pregnant mothers and their new babies.”

“If you have sacrificed yourself coming from America, how far can I go on my own continent?”

“I promise you and Tammy that your being here with us is not a waste of time.”

“We hope that you will continue to pray for us in this vision that we have of helping pregnant women”

“We hope that many midwives of USA will continue to come to train and assist us in Africa”

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10Aug

Kitchen and Eating

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The kitchen was in the back of the center in a small flat area dug out of the dirt. Women from the community who work at the center were helped by the women we trained to prepare food. Here is the kitchen and staff:

Flory and Amina had budgeted for 35 women to be fed at the training. There estimate also included food for Tammy and I, Flory and Amina and two pastors who came to help as necessary. On the first day when I asked Flory how many women were coming he said it would be a surprise. I think that was his way of saying he didn’t know. At the end of day one we had 45 women, and by the end of day two there were 52. The village chief had heard we were there and sent local women to be trained. In the end, we gave out 53 certificates. We were feeding lunch to the 53 women, their children, us, the volunteer pastors and other people who may have included the kitchen help, men who work at the center and the security people. I don’t know how Amina did it, but we never ran out of food.

Dinner for Tammy and I was separate from the women. It was a cultural thing, as teachers we ate first and were left undisturbed. It was isolating even though it was meant to honor. Because of issues with electricity, we were served dinner in our room.

The food was rice, fried potatoes, meat in sauce and fresh pineapple or banana. Breakfast was bread; eggs and coffee. We had lost our appetites by the end of the week, and had Amina give the rest of the meat for us to the women. The women ate bread and tea for breakfast, and had fufu or rice with beans for dinner and lunch.

One lunch:

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