Chad Chatter: A serious business

A few weeks ago we went to a Chadian wedding, well actually we managed to squeeze in going whilst covering the hospital as Isaac is away on holiday. It was one of our midwives, Il Djima, who was marrying at the rather old age of 28. As friends of the bride we were invited to go and visit and eat in the afternoon, before the husbands family would come and take her away in the evening.

Having waited for the midwives to finish their shift and thankfully the women in labour to deliver including our head of labs second wife we thought we could leave. We drove up to the hospital gate, lent out the window to make sure the nurses had our phone number, and were told we had a flat tyre. No problem we said, it will only take 10 minutes to change, but then found the spare on our new car was also flat. Already running late we called Dogo, our driver who came in the ambulance, loaded the 2 tyres in the back along with the midwives, and happily within 20 minutes we set off. Dogo was glad to be able to come too. On the way we dropped the tyres off for repair, and then set off to find the house. No road names, no numbers just try to find where you went last time and look for signs of a party.

On arrival we passed through the yard and were ushered into a room when we arrived given the obligatory coca cola. We were looking round for the bride, when in came someone all covered up in a laffee greeting us coyly, yes it was the bride a far cry from her engagement party when all had been laughing and dancing, this was a serious affair .She was to be a married women. In fact she had started wearing black socks to work the week before clearly preparing for her new status. We did however have the same delicious meal and then made our way back in the ambulance to a quiet hospital and time to pick up repaired tyres on the way.

It was interesting to see the difference and to see how serious marriage is taken to be. In our area the community survey done as part of our outreach project has shown that 20% of marriages are polygamous (as was this one) but obviously still a serious commitment. We see many couples who relate well despite the arranged marriage system here. This is important where results of the survey showed when it comes to child birth, 50 % of women it’s the husband who decides where they deliver.

The survey results are helping us understand more about our local area. For example

1. Amongst the 320 women surveyed 27 had had a sister who died in pregnancy

2. That women don’t know who’s at risk of having problems in labour,

3. 18% had had babies who died just after birth,

4. Many women also thought they should avoid eggs and milk in pregnancy and that cow’s milk and water from cooking the boule were good for the baby.

Hopefully through the outreach groups in the area they know a little more now, but I think we need to keep on with them. We recently had a drama group in the village too, to get over the message about the need for antenatal care and we will be painting a mural on the wall at the hospital where everyone sits to wait.

The drama group

The new maternity building, as you can see below is still making steady progress. We are placing the equipment orders and hopefully will get them through in time. I am hoping that the much better environment will also encourage women to come and deliver with us and avoid some of the many complications possible and help to add the blessing of a healthy baby to their families.