Meetings with remarkable woman!

Rashmi 

 Friday 28th June 2013...the penultimate day!

And what a day its been culminating with a ceremonial send off at the end of the MIDSON general meeting! I was presented with scarves, flowers  gifts and so many kind wishes and farewells!

I'm feeling both sad to be leaving but also looking forward to going home, and I'm sure I'll be back one day. I wish all the good and remarkable woman of MIDSON the best of luck in their mission to bring midwifery to Nepal and improve the health and well being of mothers and babies!

Amongst Buddhists

Last weekend, I went to visit Bodhnath, Asia's largest stupa, on the edge of Kathamandu a place I  visited 27 years ago. As I stepped through the gateway that led me from the noisy busy street, I found myself transported as if back in time and place to Lhasa in Tibet as I was swept along with the circumambulating Tibetans , murmuring mantras and spinning prayer wheels as they walked around the stupa , the pungeant smell of Tibetan incense hanging in the air.

Such a contrast from the frenetic energy of the streets outside to the calm ambience of the lanes around the stupa which although thronging with people and small shops and cafes still maintained the spiritual feel of the place.

"Historically, the stupa was an important staging post on the the trade route between Lhasa and Kathmandu and Tibetan traders would pray here for a safe journey before driving their yaks on to the high passes of the Himalya"(Lonely Planet Guide).

Most of the Tibetans living here are refugees who fled their country after the Chinese invasion in 1959.

With my trusty 'Lonely Planet' in hand I sought out a place to stay for the night and ended up in Shechen monastery guest house which I found down one of the wee alleyways radiating out from the hub of the stupa. This gompa was established by Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche and today has a thriving community of over 300 monks. I had once stayed in another retreat centre founded by Dilgo Rimpoche in India and read his books so I felt immediately at home here.

The pathway leading to the guest house.

As the skies grew dark and heavy with rain I stepped inside the main prayer hall of the monastery just  as the monks were settling themselves on their cushions for their evening puja. I sat at the back in the shadows on the cool marble floor and closed my eyes...ah how blissful to be here in the quiet space of the mediation hall, the golden Buddhas and Boddhisattvas gazing down on me with their benevolent smiles, surrounded by beautiful murals painted by artists from Bhutan, adorning the walls. 

As the thunder rumbled outside and the rain began to pour, the monks began chanting their deep throated gutteral mantras, growing in intensity and volume and culminating with a sudden crash of cymbals and banging of drums and blowing of horns, the sound flooding my whole body and being, bringing me most fully to my senses and setting my heart a quiver. A most cathartic experience!

Just then, a young monk came by with a giant teapot and poured me a cup of delicious hot sweet tea.

My Buddha it was good... I could have sat there forever savouring this precious moment!

These last days....

27th June 2013, Thursday.

I somehow managed to lose my last blog...it disappeared into the ether without trace and cannot be found! What to do! I'll start again....
Life is never straight forward or easy, especially in Nepal.
Bimala, MIDSONS Programme Officer was recounting the difficulties they face on a daily basis when doing 'official business', trying to negotiate an unwieldy and complex bureaucracy, so many forms to fill, petty officials to charm. It would drive me to distraction, but she remains unperturbed and goes about her business with patience and good humour.
I've really enjoyed her  company these past weeks. We've had some interesting chats about all manner of things. She is a qualified nurse and hopes to train as a midwife too and one day return to her home in north eastern Nepal to set up a clinic providing quality health care for her people. However her attempts to secure a scholarship abroad have proved unsuccessful so far and the midwifery training in Nepal is still some way off to being actualised. She would make an excellent midwife with her kindness, sensitivity and discerning intelligence. I hope she can realise her dream!

Bimala

Another remarkable young woman I've got to know here is Samjhana Phuyal from the Safe Motherhood Network Foundation, (SMNF), Nepal's branch of the White Ribbon Alliance, (WRA.org).
She invited me to a meeting last week regarding the draft bill for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health Care (already 3 years in discussion), with inputs re Respectful Maternity Care.
Various VIP's were there including Dr Arzu Rana Deuba ,the global president of the WRA and a government minister from the Ministry of Health and Population.
I was able to meet with Ishvari Devi Shreshtha, the Chief Hospital Nursing Administrator who was keen to hear about my observations while working at the Paropakar Maternity Hospital (PMWH).
She asked me to write an interim report to be discussed with her and the hospital director at the next morning meeting.

I arrived on the designated day to find that I was the guest speaker at a meeting of some 40 or so doctors and senior nurses, where I had to deliver the key points of my report! It was a little intimidating but I managed to rise to the occasion !
My main points were around Respectful Maternity Care ( a recurring message from all the previous volunteers) i.e the importance of maintaining a woman's privacy, informed consent and continuity of carer, (as far as this is possible in a low resource setting), creating the 'right'  environment for the normal physiology of labour to unfold, ( midwifery model).
MIDSON had asked me to write basic guidelines for infection prevention and a hand hygiene audit tool to be used at ward level, which I presented to the Sister of the birth centre.
Needless to say, I was careful to highlight the positive points first!

They do have their own comprehensive infection prevention guidelines,( a huge volume), and are expected to attend mandatory updates, but the levels of hygiene are , shall we say, less than optimal!
One doctor came up to me afterwards to talk about the lack of vocational doctors.  Many study medicine to fulfil the their parents wishes, for the prestige that being a doctor affords and for the financial rewards.

After the meeting

Nepal has a strongly patriarchal society and the status of women is low. This coupled with the complexities of the caste system means that woman are often not respected and woman's issues are low on the political agenda when it comes to developing a midwifery profession for instance.
I met with Kerstin Erlandsson, UNFPA's midwifery adviser and Kiran ( MIDSON's president) today, They were discussing the upcoming conference in September and all the difficulties they face in dealing with the government and the underlying political agenda that hampers any real change and development from happening efficiently and easily. And we think politicians our politicians are bad!
It seems a constant uphill struggle that would test the patience of a saint.
Kiran is passionate and committed in her mission to bring about midwifery education and its recognition as a profession in Nepal. Her energy and drive are truly impressive!
She has a good cohort of colleagues behind her too, Rashmi, Sanjena, Rita, Bimala to name a few, but not all the executive members are so engaged it seems.

Around and About...

Dwellings by the Bagmati River

One day Jaki and I stumbled across a musical instrument folk museum,  nearby MIDSON office, behind the Shiva temple and over a little bridge.

We got talking to the proprietor who, it turned out, had visited the UK on several occasions ( including Edinburgh) and stayed with friends in Wales who were helping him write a book on the folk instruments of Nepal.

When we told him about the purpose of our visit  he recounted stories his grandmother had told him (and those he'd heard while researching his book), concerning traditional birth practices in rural Nepal.

He then called his friend through to play for us, a most lovely melody reminiscent of Sottish /Irish folk music!

It was a delightful and fascinating meeting ..one of those rare chance encounters that happen when you abandon the guide book and  let yourself wander.

Playing the jews harp

         So many stray dogs about, some thin and mangy 

         but many looking well fed and fairly healthy, 

         especially those who live by the temples.

         Oftentimes they lie at the roads edge, fast asleep,

         oblivious to all the traffic passing within 

         a hairs breadth of them, narrowly escaping being 

         run over.

         Come to think of it , it's a bit like that for people          

         too! When I first arrived, I was a nervous wreck           

         when walking down the street , jumping at every 

         car horn and nervously dodging the onslaught of          

         vehicles! Now I'm almost as kamikaze as the

         locals when crossing the road! 

 

        

  Temples, Monks and Monkeys........

The Buddhas eyes look down from Syambunath Stupa

Kathmandu seen from the steps leading to Swyambhunath Stupa