I apologize for the delay in communication. The internet in Ghana is mostly provided by Vodafone (~95%). They were having technical difficulties since saturday (9/11) and while we had a brief window of 4 hours to work on monday, we have been without the internet since. However, it has been restored and i can now read the 50 some emails in my etown mailbox... And post once again!
More importantly our first women's program was a resounding success! 30 women attended, all ages from girls in our youth group to older women nearing menopause. We decided to start with menstruation, since i women face the issue. Danielle and I briefly covered the reproductive system and went into where in the cycle the egg is and how if the egg is not fertilized, mensus occurs. We made sure to give the general statistics:2-8 days of menstruation, ~28 day cycle... We then covered a laundry list of issues associated with one's period such as PMS, TSS, PCOS, and anemia. We went into the symptoms that could indicate serious problems, suggesting gynecological visits at that point. (They do have them here, they are just few and far between. They are mainly in Accra, but so me do come to Cape Coast to staff a clinic once a week or so...)
To end we then covered some lifestyle changes to make one's period easier:
Keeping hydrated
Reducing Caffeine
Making sure to eat more dark green vegetables and red meat to fight the anemia
Taking in extra calcium to help with PMS
Exercising
Sleeping
Reducing stress
The women were receptive to all of this and it was interesting to learn that they did not know that these simple things can help, yet it is something they cover for us in health class as teens, and we all took those classes for wastes of our time...
We opened the floor to questions and got quite a few. One woman complained of painful cramps that she had been to a clinic for, but could find nothing medically wrong. Danielle suggested heating water and pouring it into a zip-top bag and laying with it. These women had never thought of it before and thought it was a good idea to try.
The next question was more challenging. An older women asked how she could get a girl. (She has 4 boys). Our translator, Maggie, (One of the local teachers I met at the school in Kakumdo who is incredibly nice and very talented. She make us repeat things and translated precisely instead of altering or embellishing which was wonderful!) informed us there are beliefs that certain positions during sex will determine the gender of the child, and the woman wanted to know if this was true. We informed her that it was not and we then had to give an impromptu genetics lesson. We had the egg with XX and the sperm with XY and explained that each parent can only give one. So the mother must always give an X and the father can give an X or a Y. Then the outcomes are XX (girl) or XY (boy). We also flipped a coin a few times to explain how the one woman has 4 boys and no girls even though it was a 50/50 chance. They all seemed to get a kick out of that one since there was a lot of rapid discussion after we finished and asked if it made sense.
Finally one woman was there with her little child. She ask why she did not have her period. We told her that she since she had recently had a child, it will be delayed and more irregular. She still seemed concerned and so when we found out she was breastfeeding that was the easy explanation. So long as you breast feed your fertility is lower (your body naturally trying to not have to much strain on it) and it is possible to not have your period for the duration of the time you breastfeed. That was news to them, although the other older women seemed to be able to confirm it so that was really neat.
The whole experience was great. The women also really enjoyed the popcorn we made for them! Danielle and her mom made it and we got water for everyone on the way. I carried it on my head!!! It was rather funny since we bought the water at a shop and a man went and got it for us. He then asked who was going to carry it and I volunteered. He then lifts it up and sticks it on my head, which i was not expecting! He asked if i was okay, and i said sure and we went from there. The walk is uphill to get to the church and water was leaking out so by the time we were there I was wet but it was fun!
We did have to cut the question and answer session short, which was upsetting but it was time for choir practice. However, we adjusted to an earlier time for this coming thursday so we should have more time then!
No comments:
Post a Comment