April 14- 15

Thursday we went in the morning to meet Kiran at Tribhuvan University. Kiran is the president of MIDSON and also a midwifery and nursing professor at the university. She is a very busy person! She is leading the planning for the midwifery conference and I have volunteered to help in any way I can. Cathy has been asked to make the address to the conference so she is busy working on that. I am very excited to be able attend and be part of a midwifery conference in a country that is struggling to get midwifery education and practice to its women. It wasn’t that long ago that midwives in BC were engaging in a similar struggle. We still have many things at home to work out in our profession; however being here is giving me some perspective on fortunate we are! In some ways I am sad because I know women like Kiran and other members of MIDSON have worked tirelessly for many years to get midwifery established and it is still not regulated, and there is not yet a schedule for training the trainers who will train Nepal’s next generation of midwifery leaders. On the other hand, as Cathy has reminded me, it took many years in British Columbia and other parts of Canada to get midwifery to where it is today, so it is normal that things like this move slow. The same things that are preventing midwifery from expanding in Canada; politics, power struggles, funding and status of women are the same things they are struggling with here. They are just in an earlier stage of the struggle. At the very least I hope by being here we can be allies in their struggle! Below is a link to an interview with Kiran last year after the earthquake – she says it best in her own words. http://midwives4all.org/life-saving-role-of-midwives-crucial-pregnant-women-in-the-wake-of-disaster/

Yesterday we had lunch with Cathy’s good friend Bishnu and his partner Gabrielle and their 4.5month old baby Emma. It was such a nice time! Bishnu is a trekking guide and he is going to help arrange a trek for Krista, Kristi and I after our hospital placement in Baglung. Unfortunately we will miss seeing the rhododendrons in bloom (that is happening now) but we will get to see the Annapurnas hopefully if the monsoon has not arrived!

We also found out that due to Mugu being infrequently visited, that the planes only fly once a week. This means that we will not leave here until April 21 and arrive April 22 and we will need to return April 29 in order to get back in time to meet K + K and attend the conference. This is disappointing for us, but cannot be helped. We will just work non-stop while we are there to do as much as we can! Jill will stay longer to finish the interviews and someone from the team with return later in the year to continue with the project.

Later last night Cathy and I went for a walk to Durbar square. We had been informed of the festival to worship the Hindu god Seto Machendranath and decided to go enjoy the festivities. As we entered the square we heard “Cathy!” It was Kiran’s son Niranjan. Kiran’s husband, son, and daughter in law were all there to worship the god. How serendipitous that we would run into them in the big crowd! We then were able to participate in the event. First 108 hand made ghee candles had to be lit. When Cathy asked Kiran why 108? She replied “Because it the perfect number to the god.” J Kiran then brought offerings to the God, different food items and coins. She took it to the chariot where she said a prayer and the offerings were made. Her tray was returned with flowers. She then gave us all a tika on our forehead and we went to offer flowers at the foot of the god who casts out evil spirits. At one point she turned to me and said “This is our culture, Marella.” Thank you so much Kiran for sharing your culture with us. We then sat and talked as the candles burned and Kiran’s family tended to them. She invited us to participate in some outreach clinics in the rural areas next week. We have said a resounding yes!