Family matters: training midwives in Uganda

The adventure begins

After 20 years of travelling to Uganda to undertake short placements, Diane took the plunge and volunteered for a two-year stint with VSO. She was accompanied by her eight year-old daughter, Sara, and, although she too had been to Uganda before, they found themselves excited and a little nervous at the prospect of moving from Belfast to Kampala.

They needn’t have worried. “We quickly settled into our new home,” recalls Diane. “A week after arriving, Sara started at her new school  – Rainbow International. There have been ups and downs, but I’m incredibly proud of the way she has slotted in there with very little complaint and has done well. She is enjoying her life here. She’s learned to swim properly and has made lots of friends, most of whom come from the large slum area nearby.”

“Life in Uganda is amazing but not without its challenges,” she continues. “The traffic and the roads are atrocious, the dirt is horrendous, and the poverty is heartbreaking, but after a while you learn to make the best of it.”

Changing attitudes

Diane’s role was initially as a midwife tutor in the International Hospital in Kampala. She needed to adjust quickly: “Working in Ugandan culture will always throw frustrations in your path, whether it be attitudes or work ethic – which is incredibly different from where I come from – and the speed at which things move is often painfully slow. It takes determination and sheer perseverance, with a bit of ego massage for a few personalities along the way, but eventually things start to happen.”
 
“One of the biggest challenges for me has been knowing my limitations,” she adds. “I arrived with plans to change a whole organisation or culture, but over time you come to the realisation that you will achieve only a tiny 'nibble' off the edge of what has to be done, but that that tiny nibble makes a huge impact.”

Looking ahead

One year in, her role has mushroomed into a large and exciting collection of jobs, from teaching midwives, nurses and doctors to developing protocols that ensure good risk management. She is currently also working to develop midwifery services in Lira, a more rural district about five hours North of Kampala.

“Sub-Saharan Africa still has an unacceptably high maternal and infant mortality rate,” says Diane. “There’s a lot of work to be done within communities and another project I am working on is increasing awareness of the importance of effective bereavement care for mothers who suffer loss in childbirth. Speaking to bereaved mothers, I realised that they struggle with a lack of acknowledgement of their loss within their communities. Helping local midwives to see this, and designing tools for them to help a mother begin the grieving process may go some way towards making this tragic loss a more positive experience.”

As Diane and Sara head into their second year in Uganda, Diane says, “I hope and pray for another year as good as the first. To those of you embarking on a VSO adventure, you won't regret it!”