Amy's Adventures in Darfur

I started this blog when I left for Darfur in June 2006. I was working as a midwife with MSF aka "Medecins Sans Frontiers" aka "Doctors without Borders" but this blog contains my own opinions and stories- not those of MSF. It is less political than I want it to be and I have been unable to post stories about certain topics due to the fact that this is on the internet and accessible to anyone. I wish I could tell you all of the stories but since I can't, I will tell you the ones that I can...

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

just another day in habillah

this morning (as i was sleeping after being up all night), a nomad man, along with his cousin, brought his wife in for an appointment. he explained that his wife was pregnant and he wanted to know exactly how pregnant she was. he had been away until a month ago and if his wife was more than one month pregnant he had orders from his family to kill her and throw her body in the wadi (the river). it's times like this where i'm glad i don't speak the language. it's probably good that i can't say to these men "do you really think your wife WILLINGLY cheated on you, you total idiot? you wouldn't have married her if the women in her family hadn't held her down as a child, cut off her genitals and sewed her closed, not only denying her any sexual pleasure, but also causing her pain every time she has sex". i'm SO sure she went out and found a boyfriend while you were gone and it wasn't just one more example of the women here having no right to their own bodies. you can't imagine the words that i omit when i write these emails. or maybe you can.

and on a lighter note:

an ngo was carjacked outside of el geneina recently. the carjackers took everything, as per usual, but gave the expat 1000 sudanese dinars (about $4) to buy water for his long walk home :) such considerate carjackers....

our newest team member arrived today. his name is gustavo and he was telling us about some of this other missions while we ate lunch. one of his funniest experiences was when he first arrived in somalia. for the first two weeks whenever he introduced himself to people he got really weird reactions. people's responses ranged from total shock to gut-laughter. finally, after two weeks, his staff felt comfortable enough to tell him why. apparently in somalian the word "gus" means penis, and the word "tavo" is to touch. he was telling everyone he met to touch his penis.

my butt is covered in huge welts courtesy of the bug that flew up my pant leg last night. i didn't mention this before but, in order to kill it without desterilizing my gloves, i had to run backwards into a wall with my butt (more than once). again, remember that no one there spoke english and they had NO idea that there was an angry creature caught in my pants. they probably thought it was some crazy white-girl birth dance.

like i said previously... another day, another thousand mood swings :) how many days till i'm done?

2 Comments:

Blogger Beth B said...

AMES!!
I did not know you were in the Sudan!! I am praying for you and have you in my thouhgs. I love you so much.. Be well.
love,
Beth

6:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Ames

I notice that no one has left any comments so let me be the first...as I am a faithful devotee to your blog.

What an amazing time and incredible experiences. At times I wish I was there with you - and at other times, not. (the whole Denny's waitress thing)
This blog especially reminds me how midwives will do whatever it takes to defend and preserve lives.

Even if it means lying.

They even did it back in Bible days.

We're both very proud of you!!!
Mike & Mandy

10:40 AM  

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