2 weeks in the field

Hello internet!

Nearly 3 weeks in Same and still kicking! Its been a steep adjustment period with a few challenges along the way, well specifically moving house a few times and terrible nights sleep but things seem to have stabilized. Ben and I have spent nearly the last 2 weeks apart with a few days together over the weekend. When I got back to him he was looking pretty hairy and in desperate need of a shave!

I have had a much more active time at with work and lots of visits and field trips. First was a visit to a community health clinic called a SISCA, which is where they mobilise a clinic to an area that doesn’t normally have access to a clinic. Hundreds of women and their children and newborns come along for weighing of their babies, immunizations and health information. Antenatal check ups also occur. At the end all the food supplements were distributed then everyone goes home! It took the better part of the day but people don’t seem to mind the long waiting times.

At one of the places I stayed we had a community movie night

I then spent 3 days on a training of community health workers. My team was doing the training for people already trained to be community health workers and they get our training on how to engage with the community and promote to mothers that they see a midwife during their pregnancy, birth in a health facility or at home with a midwife and then see a midwife after the birth. It hasn’t ceased to amaze me as yet the differences in pregnancy here compared to back home. Such as what a birth plan back home can involve compared to here being whether you will birth in a clinic or call a midwife and to arrange transport and have money in the case of an emergency. Only about 20% of women birth in a health facility here and even less see a health professional for themselves or their baby after birth which all contributes to the high rates of mothers and babies dying in pregnancy and the 1^st month or so after birth. (Sorry I’m sure some people will find this boring but there might be a few who are interested!). I met with one the sub districts midwives, there are two of them in this particular suco (village) but for years there was only one and in lots of places there are still only one.  They attend to all the antenatal checkups, births and emergencies on their own. They don’t always have access to transport if needed either and also do postnatal care too. I can’t imagine the sacrifice they have made, most of them living away from their family and children and only seeing them once a month. Plus the workload and potential stress. The midwife I was talking to said she had to mouth to mouth resuscitate two asphyxiated babies recently because the ambu-bag wasn’t working… but both babies lived.

One of the training rooms

 

The view of the mountains from where I was staying!

Piglets!

Anyway so the training was good as there were a few English speakers plus one of the fellow expats from the head office so I managed to get a fair bit translated and a few more things became clear. One important thing I had explained to me is how to use the toilet system here- there is no toilet paper in any of the bathrooms here so on the day I forgot my paper, I was in trouble. Someone explained to me how to use the “mandy”, which is basically a bucket you use to wash yourself and flush the toilet with. Unfortunately it’s really pretty hard to do, and I defiantly haven’t yet mastered it and tend to end up with water all over myself after going to the ladies… bit suspicious I know! Work in

progress…

A few more scenery shots 

The house we stayed in was initially a shock, my 1^st experience of a guesthouse out in the sub district. Initially I was a little bit afraid I might catch something but in time I got used to the damp smell and saw the bathroom in the daylight and it wasn’t too bad. The owners were very friendly and the food was pretty good so cant complain.  In fact I discovered that it’s the best place in town and the president of Timor Leste had stayed there recently in the lead up to the elections.

The outdoor 'kitchen'

A dog sleeping next to the pot for a little residule heat or just making it so his owners don't have to look very far for him later on

My room

Kittens

 

After the 3 days of training I headed back to Same for the weekend. Ben and I spent the entire Saturday in our room reading- I was hooked on the 2^nd Game of thrones novel and couldn’t tear myself away! We did go for a walk in the evening though, and it was cool to check out a bit more of what’s around Same as in the previous weeks we hadn’t explored much except the main strip. So we are surrounded by villages, rivers and paths leading to more villages with scenic mountains in the background- pretty stunning! The walk was a bit interesting due to the massive bulls on all the paths.

The road on the way to one of the trainings

Maubisse

After the weekend I headed to another sub district for the same training again. This time I had lost my fellow expat though and I was a little bit more on my own. Its was a pretty funny experience arriving as they hadn’t booked enough accommodation so we were all standing around in the dark wondering what was going to happen. The boys found themselves another house and us girls stayed in a house with 2 double beds, which was perfect as there were 4 of us. I’m not exactly sure why however but the 3 Timorese girls preferred to sleep in a bed together and leave me in the other room with a whole bed to myself. Initially I was thinking hey why doesn’t anyone want to share a bed with me?  But I suppose its just a foreigner thing, or maybe they paid less sharing the bed together, who knows… anyway I was pretty glad anyway as the mattress was thin, hard and lumpy and it wasn’t the best night sleep anyway. There was however an experience with a big spider as it was just about on top of my foot when I moved my bag… I screamed and everyone came running in. Everyone kept telling me “its okay Mana, its not like in Australia when the spiders kill you with one bite.” 

Here are some of the culinary delights of rural Timor Leste;

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Eggs anyone?

After the training I was back in Same getting messages from Ben about all the luxuries and food options available in Dili, which I’m sure you will all hear about at length in the next installation!

xxx 

Naomi

PS: Due to us being in Dili, I wrote this about a week and a half ago, we just hadn't had time to upload the photos.