Sylvia's Journal

Today was one of those days where I realized how being in all female (rare) and mostly male company (normal) affects my psyche in different ways. In the afternoon I went with one male and two young female colleagues to present our leadership program to the executive board meeting of the midwives association. Two years ago, in Bangladesh, I met two of their members and since then I have always been warmly received in their midst.

If my young female colleagues come across as shy and inexperienced in the usual (older) male settings I am used to see them in, they were completely in their element in this company of (mostly but not all) young women. These women have devoted their lives to helping babies enter this world under the best possible circumstances. That they themselves do this work under less than ideal circumstances, especially those living in the southern and eastern provinces, makes their work all the more remarkable.

I congratulated them on finding themselves repeatedly in the world news, in a positive way, as Millennium Development Goal #5 (reducing maternal mortality), was being scrutinized in New York at the MDG Summit this week. The gathering has just been reminded everyone, once again, that women’s health is given short thrift in many countries and that midwives can do something about that.

I was proud of my team that had produced an excellent powerpoint, in the local language, and gave the eager midwives a taste of what this leadership program is like. An enthusiastic question and answer session followed the presentation and everyone wanted to sign on right away, even though we can only start with about 7 teams. The others will have to wait.

These total immersion sessions in Dari are good checks on my linguistic progress. I can read the powerpoint text, albeit slowly, and ask for the meaning of words I don’t recognize. They are words like facing challenges, activities, measurable results, none of which ever show up in the fairy tale books that my teacher has me read.