We have now been working in the clinics for the past 2 weeks and what a challenge it has been.  We have visited 4 clinics so far, the first 3 were quite similar, as in the resources they had and how they were set up.  They were actually better than I was expecting the clinics to be, however the 4th one was more how I was expecting it, in a very poor village with not alot of resources or staff compared to the others.   We couldn’t even walk to get a drink in the village as it was too unsafe for us as white people, we had to have an escort!! All the clinics need our help in many ways, which is why we are here, and hopefully can get the ball rolling.

The staff we have met have mostly been welcoming and happy to share with us what they do and what help they would like.  We have had a few difficulties with some staff, worrying we are assessing them, but as time has gone on, we have made each other feel more comfortable.  For example,  not using the word scenarios, they run a mile! The midwives in charge of the clinics are great and do such an amazing job!

They are very understaffed in the clinics (even worse than the staffing in the NHS!) but they do have a lot of students who rotate, so actually the students do a lot of the work!  This is good for the trained midwives, but also can be detrimental to the mothers and infants care.  Don’t get me wrong, the students are amazing, but they are new to this environment and are expected to do alot more than we would expect from our students in the UK.  There have been a few mishaps, that haven’t caused the mothers or infants any harm, but does show the students need more observation.  For example, thinking the correct way to check an infants startle reflex is to throw it in the air!!

We have also observed some very sad and disturbing situations, that I wont go into detail about, but it really does make us realise how lucky we are in the UK, even though things aren’t perfect. I really don’t know how the midwives and nurses deal with these things day to day, they are so strong! Speaking of strong, I have never met anyone as strong physically and mentally as the mothers here giving birth! They have to go through it alone, as they cant have someone stay with them, they get no pain relief and just get on with it! It’s both upsetting and amazing to see the strength of these women.

It’s not all been work though, we’ve had some nice days off! Trying different places, including going to the pool, restaurants, bars and even made some friends. It has been hard making friends so far. Alot of people here want to be our friends for the wrong reasons, so we are having to be very careful with this. We are still getting harassed, however its definitely less when we are with a Zambian!! We have also met 3 British people, so hopefully we can spend more time with them. We have joined a gym, and I’m slowly getting less anxious every time we go, which is really helping us. I have also bought a sun lounger! So definitely starting to feel more at home.

I hope I’ve remembered everything! I cant believe how much has happened in 2 weeks!