les fistuleuses

so ali and i have safely returned from niamey, niger. the weather in oxford is BEAUTIFUL and we're in love with warm showers, eating apples, and drinking water from the tap. :)

so i thought i'd post some pictures of the fistula ward/women since the majority of my time was spent with them. my research was on international eradication efforts of obstetric fistula, and if the campaigns coordinate with demographic realities on the ground. for those of you who have no idea what obstetric fistula is (which is totally understandable, it's been completely eradicated in the first world), it is simply a hole which develops between the vagina, urethra and/or rectum, resulting in incontinence. the hole or fistula develops as a result of obstructed, prolonged labour, and is symptomatic of the almost complete lack of medical facilities in impoverished countries: especially niger where 80% of the population lives in rural villages. because the women are leaking urine and/or feces, they are almost always determined as outcasts in their community and abandoned by their husbands. they have to go through pretty incredible lengths to arrive at this hospital in niamey to get repairative surgery. sometimes they have to be operated on multiple times (one woman had 13 attempted repairs before she was finally healthy), and therefore live in this outdoor courtyard for years on end.

so here are some pictures of the hospital etc.:

one of the general courtyards of the hospital, on a particularly empty day. the hospital is made of multiple rooms connected by outdoor corridors and courtyards. usually they are all completely packed with people - i honestly couldn't say what most of them are doing there... waiting for medical care? waiting for a loved one? trying to find a shady spot to rest in? hard to say really.


the fistula courtyard. some 60 women live there at one time, a number which can fluctuate up to 100. the women recover from their surgeries here, wait for more surgeries, and help each other get through it all.

emily, amadu, major, mariama, and haoua in front of the courtyard. emily was the peace corps worker there, amadu was a social worker with the women, major the general nurse in charge of them all, and mariama and haoua were previous fistula patients who now live and work in the fistula ward as nurses. they are all wonderful! i love these people!



some pictures of ali and me with the women (there are tons more where that came from - but i decided to just post 2). the first picture is of a particularly wonderful woman who we interviewed: fati, who has been leaking urine for 7 years and had multiple fistula surgeries. she had actually attended 7 years of school and could even recite the french alphabet (amazing in a country where 90% of women are illiterate). she had a 12 year old daughter who was also in school - she truly has lived outside the expected norms of nigerien women, and we praised her greatly for it. what's tragic is that she still developed a fistula, despite her forward-thinking lifestyle. the health care of the hospital she delivered the baby at was simply ill-equipped and under-staffed to help her through the complicated labour. but she was one of the many wonderful women we interacted with while working there. i can't say enough about this experience - it was absolutely fantastic. and i'm eternally grateful to ali for coming all the way to niger with me. :) she's the best friend i could ask for.

love you all - i'll post more pictures, plus elliott sent me an email with a bunch of really good basic questions about life in niger that i'll answer via blog-post. sannu!

more pictures!

1. the niger river going right through the center of the city
2. the entrance to the hospital i work at
3. a typical traffic round-about in downtown niamey, notice all the signs for various NGOs/IGOs?
4. typical market stand with typical nigerienne women

more later! love you all! have a great conference weekend (wish i could hear it...)!

more from niamey

fo fo! sannu! bonjour! take your pick on what greeting you want - i don't know the ones in tamashek or biri-biri, but i could add those as well. niamey is insane in that way (and typical of africa in general) - everyone speaks at least 3 languages, and they're all interchanged quite frequently. my french is pretty useless actually - i really should speak hausa or djerma. alas.

anyway, here are some shots from niamey - the first is the sunset from our house a few nights ago. so beautiful - and there are quite a lot of trees around niamey, especially the nicer houses, considering we are in the sahara. the second shot was taken from a taxi - quite typical of niamey, that's what a lot of it looks like. spread out, dusty, low buildings - everything quite clean and ordered, just poor by first world standards.

my work at the hospital continues to go well. research has fallen into place and i feel very grateful at the surprising ease of it all. the women at the hospital are lovely and strong and happy despite some of the extraordinary pain many of them have faced. i love being here, africa is a difficult but wonderful place to work in. the people are extraordinary and i can't say enough about niger itself. such a safe friendly place to be! love you all and i'll try to post more pictures soon.

third-world me

hello all from niamey, niger! the local peace corps volunteer showed us a very nice cafe here that has wireless internet access, so i am here with my laptop on lunch break from work at the hospital and thought i'd let everyone know that i am safe in this blessed country. this is a picture of what ali and i like to call the 'third-world version' of ourselves - haha, not exactly the most attractive. but it's insanely hot here (it is the sahara after all): thus the large bottle of water in my hand, of which i drink at least 3 a day. i'm standing in front of the beautiful and luxurious house of dr. ghaichatou, the woman we are staying with here in niamey. she's an absolute gem, i couldn't say enough about her - she cooks us fantastic food every night, even though she works 11 hour days at the UNFPA office's fistula-eradication department. she's hilarious and strong and independent and overwhelmingly generous. that's par for the course here in niger, though - the people are so so lovely. i couldn't say enough about them! so welcoming and kind. my research is going well, the hospital is intense and shockingly sad at times, but i'm so happy to be here.

love you all. i'll probably update again.

a plus tard!

end of hilary term

i said a very tearful farewell to oxford last night. another 6 week term break... my time will mostly be spent in fieldwork in niger, but with brief visits in berkeley and utah before.

here are some shots of the last few days: i had dinner in Christ Church college's hall with a large group of african studies friends. it was spectacular, as you can see. and then last night we all went out to the pub for a final drink...of water in my case :) and yes, that last picture is of my dear german friend toni - i figured he should make his debut on my blog sometime or another. and yes, he was the hardest goodbye of the evening. sigh.

BUT i'm so so excited to see so much of the fam in a few short days! to squeeze all the little ones. :) as for oxford, see you in trinity term...

2 more things to be grateful for

1. the flowers currently in my room, for blooming while i slept last night.

2. the embassy in niger, for speedily getting my passport and visa safely back to me. :) now i can fly to the US safe and sound next week!

kenya

i imagine most people have heard news snippets about the violence accompanying recent elections in kenya the past month or so. if you're entirely in the dark, check out this [oversimplifying, but still helpful] article about the dangerous ramifications of the recent political chaos. dave anderson, my professor, is quoted in the article and has been quite active in the media trying to prevent unintelligent journalism on the issue. people see violence in africa and jump to immediate conclusions of 'entrenched traditional tribalism' and 'genocide like rwanda' all over again. we must put these events in a more accurate historic and local context, or else we simply exacerbate the issues. dave was explaining the other day how kalenjins in the rift valley applauded when the media claimed their actions 'genocidal,' because it put so much fear into gikuyu living among them that they all packed up and left: exactly what the kalenjins intended.

so anyway, this past week at oxford a group of african studies students (mostly kenyans) organised events to raise money for the kenyan red cross - i was asked to be the official photographer (throwback to my days as historian at cerro villa!). here are some shots of the open mic night in my college's bar, and the following night's panel discussion on 'kenya: the way forward' held in rhodes house, one of my main libraries. they were really good events that raised some funds, brought issues forward. the panel discussion was quite pessimistic in tone, unfortunately... we continued discussion at the pub afterwards and there was definite disagreement: dave, having spent so much of his life in the rift valley province, is increasingly pessimistic about the future of kenya (you can see his views in this ny times article). nic cheeseman, another one of my professors, however, felt that practical economic necessities will bring people away from the machetes and into productive life again. it's hard to say, and they may both be right - it's an exaggeration to say the country will fall apart completely (the 1992 elections had just as much violence accompanying them), but economic boom and prosperity are not likely either.

above is a south african gumboots dance performance... and below - that man sitting on the far left is dave anderson

pray for kenya, as it holds so much sway on a continent that has simply been marginalised and beaten up for far too long.

option #1 for post-oxford life

Congratulations! You have been admitted for the M.A. and Ph.D. in History for Fall 2008 at the University of California, Berkeley. Your official letter of admission and other informational materials will be sent to you via U.S. mail tomorrow. We're pleased to offer you admission and hope that you will choose to attend Berkeley.

rare sunny sunday in oxford = photo expedition in christ church meadow

note to self:

when you are enrolled in a masters course at oxford, you can't really take 3-day vacations in the middle of term.

i got back from paris at 2am this morning to a very, VERY full email inbox filled with academic obligations. oh, right - i'm getting a masters degree? i'm going to niger in march? for field research with top fistula surgeons? oh - i forgot in the midst of the boulangeries de paris...

needless to say i've been entirely stressed out today - the "best" little piece of news i got was from dr. idrissa - the head fistula surgeon at the national hospital in niamey asking if i had received permission to do my research from the nigerien ministere de la sante. DANG IT - i completely forgot about such formalities, and have absolutely no idea how to go about getting said permission, since each phone number i try (ever tried calling niger? yes, the country code is 227 - just fyi) is out of service. ha ha ha - this is all happening, and i feel sort of in over my head.

in other news, this lovely hyacinth bulb my friend stephanie gave me opened while i was in france! huzzah! that made me excessively happy. plus paris itself was wonderful - and despite the stresses of oxford life, it was still completely worth the trip. i <3 paris, what can i say. :)