Life in Midwifery School

So much is happening here and life is so busy, that I don't know where to begin, but I want to let you in on some of the things I'm doing, some of the details. I could never express to you everything I'm hearing, learning, doing, feeling, etc. But here's a glimpse:

- every week we study Facts for Life a textbook put out by WHO and a bunch of other groups - basically its life saving info that might be common sense to many people here, but has the power to save lives if taught and put in place throughout the developing world. So each week we topple a new topic and then take Tuesday nights to put on all manner of creative productions to teach this information to each other. We get to practice what it would be like to teach this info to a crowd. And out come skits, puppet shows, songs, mimes, game shows and who knows what is to come. This particular puppet was learning about how to stay healthy during pregnancy.
- as a part of our education we are constantly learning about the needs of the poor around the world - which at times feels overwhelming, from watching Invisible Children (please do what it takes to see this movie!!), to other movies on vaccines and world health crises, girls education, refugees, child labour, and more to come. The topics are often heavy and difficult, but we are seeing that there is a world in need of care, and that as we are trained and go out in the power of Christ can we make a difference. Today we had an excellent presentation on HIV/AIDs by a local doctor - it was very very good.

- we also take part in exercises like one last week where 10 of us girls role played as though we were women born into 3rd world situations, as we "grew up" we learned our fate at each step and waited to see if life would give us the chances to move off the road to early death. In the end 6 or 7 of us won the lottery, the others moved through life suffering at each step and finally falling victim to Maternal Death, young, uneducated, uncared for, without a fair chance. I made it off that road - but at each step as we were routing for those still walking it, and I realized that it was entirely real. Infact the odds in real life are not so good. Women and girls, do not have the care, respect and treatment they need and deserve and thousands of them are dying each year because of it!
- every week we have tests and assignments in our specialities (for me that'd be Midwifery), these are hardcore assignments! This is real school, let me tell you - I honestly lug around a entire suitcase of texts, it weighs around 50-60lbs! I'm proud to say I got my first test back today and earned a 90% - I guess that's encouragement for every other late night!

- so every chance we get we try to take a break from studying and throw some fun in - like last Saturday a handful of travelled to the mighty town of Weiser, ID and enjoyed the Fiddle-Fest, we ended up at a makeshift campground where at every trailer people were playing country and bluegrass and we had ourselves a dance - what a fantastic end to a stressful week. We also invited everyone over to enjoy a Newsies Night - we all dressed like turn of the century newspaper boys and watched the wonderful musical - Newsies.

So we keep on, today we wrote another exam and now we begin a new topic again - its feeling rhythmic already, and I can't believe how quickly all of this will pass!