Day 33

Best. Day. Ever.

Ali and I had our first meeting with the traditional birth attendants (TBAs) this morning! It started out a little (okay, a lot) hectic but it all came together in the end. 

We asked Esther, who cleans the compound for us once a week, to make the chai and mendazi for us. However, only half the mendazi was cooked by the time we left for the hospital and she hadn't yet started making the chai. The printer also ran out of ink and we were only able to print 11  brochures.

Deep breath...

We knew the meeting wouldn't start on time. We even purposefully set the meeting for 10:00, knowing it wouldn't start before 10:30. Good news, the meeting didn't actually start until 11:15! It didn't help that once the chai finally arrived, we ran out within minutes. Can you tell we're new at this?

Here's the thing though, we had no idea how many TBAs would be attending. At the last community health workers meeting, we asked them to please tell the TBAs in their village when and where the meeting would be. We estimated 30 attendees, and felt that was being extra generous. We couldn't be sure news of the meeting would even reach the TBAs and when we woke up to pouring rain and muddy roads, we just assumed attendance would be low.

Boy, were we wrong. 

So, so wrong.

We had 41 women show up! 

Forty. One. 

I still don't have to words to describe this morning. I feel extremely blessed to be a part of something with so much potential to make a difference in the lives of women and children. Our next meeting is set for July 3rd, where we plan to do a formal training session with the TBAs.

For anyone not familiar with the project I am working on, here's the low down:

Africa has a very high maternal mortality rate,  and the largest contributor happens to be postpartum hemorrhage. It is recommended that all women give birth in the hospital but for a variety of reasons, there are women who still give birth at home. 

That's where my project comes in. 

Oxytocin is what is most commonly administered to women postpartum to prevent hemorrhaging but because it must be administered through an injection and requires refrigeration, it can't be used by TBAs during at home births. Thankfully, there's an alternative: Misoprostol!  It can be easily stored and administered orally. I've been working closely with the Nkoaranga Hospital and their palliative care team to implement a program that would allow TBAs to administer Misoprostol to women who give birth at home.

Today's meeting was monumental. We've finally reached the TBAs! It took some time (about a month) but now that we've found out who they are, we can begin teaching them how to use and administer Misoprostol and hopefully reduce maternal mortality! 

(I may be getting a little ahead of myself, since reality check, there is a still lot of work to be done. It just feels so great to be on the right track!)

XOXO,

Amanda