RH Conference and the Vice President!!

Today was the first day of the College of Medicine Centre for Reproductive Health's second Reproductive Health Conference. It is on maternal and child health and translating research to action. The conference supposedly started at 7:30 am this morning so we got there at 7:00 to help set up. Guests eventually started trickling in around 8:30 and at 9:45, the Vice President of Malawi arrived, so we could officially start. We went through this elaborate and detailed protocol of all of the important people making remarks and acknowledging eachother. My boss was among them and I thought hers were really well-written. Which is interesting because I have no idea when she found the time to do it. The Vice President, the Honorable Joyce Banda, made some remarks that indicated that she was strongly supportive of reproductive health programs and maternal and neonatal mortality reduction programs. She was a heavy set middle aged woman and wore this green outfit that was really pretty. She came with this whole entourage and we had to stand up every time she moved. She had two "secret service" types that followed her everywhere and even had her own chair brought for it. It wasn't even that nice- just a red chair but I guess it has significance. Anyways, the story is that she had a post-partum hemorrhage when delivering and was unconscious for 6 hours. She was fortunate and the doctor at the hospital was able to revive her and save her life. The next time she went back to that doctor she apparently got a tubal ligation, saying that she wouldn't risk her life like that again. It was nice to see someone with a strong political commitment but it also left me wondering how much was rhetoric. Anyways, the conference was nice. Opened with a prayer and ended with a prayer but what else would you expect in Africa? Topics ranged from maternal mortality reduction to adolescent reproductive health services to male involvement in reproductive health and HIV issues. The other highlight was when the traditional chiefs (who were in attendance) took issue with two major things. One was having a male partner in the room during delivery. They went back and forth in Chichewa but the idea was that male presence during delivery is not an "African" way of doing things and should not be pushed. The other thing that they took issue with had to do with a traditional post partum guideline of waiting 6 months before resuming sexual activity. One woman suggested that men are refusing to wait and are cheating on their wives and bringing STI's into the marriage. She said that this should be revisited. The chief sternly said (again in Chichewa) that this rule had a role in the community and should not be questioned. Andrea was really annoyed that all of this discussion occurred in Chichewa, but I thought that it was fine. These discussions are not FOR me. These discussions are the conversations within a community that cause changes in people's thinking and progress. If people felt more comfortable voicing their opinions in their native language, that was fine with me. I could always ask at the end. Sometimes I just like the privilege of being in the room and even try guessing what is going on. Tonight, we are going for Italian dinner and then I am probably getting into my amazing bathtub. Tomorrow is another half day of conference and then more relaxing at the hotel. We are trying to arrange for transport back to Mangochi on Saturday but it is going to cost 33,000 kwacha whereas it only costed 24,000 to get here. Quite a bit of difference. We will see how it goes. Til tomorrow...

Miss my friends and family! <3