Monique and the Mango Rains

This is a story of friendship between a young aid volunteer and an inspirational Midwife in Mali. So you might think..."gosh! i can imagine it". But believe me when i say, until you read the book you cant possibly imagine it. Of course we have heard and watched on TV about these remote African villages and their living conditions. Yet nothing prepares you for a story like this. 

Now, i don't dare to say that i can imagine what these women are going through...because i believe we simply cant imagine it. We live in a far too comfortable world where even the poorest ones among us can be considered having a comfy life, compared to Malian of course !!

I often hear pregnant mothers speak about the difficulties they go through during pregnancy, childbirth and then taking care of their babies. With so much support from family and friends..with super clean hospitals and homes. With overflowing gifts from friends and family to help us start caring for the babies. With nutritious food and all the medical care we need available. With good weather conditions where the worst could be a heavy rain or a sunny day...nothing more...nothing less ! With cars to travel anytime anywhere.  Yet...we speak about how difficult it is. And become irritated and depressed with all the pressure of being a young mother. 

Now it makes me wonder...how it is possible with the same qualities of being a women just like us, these mothers in remote parts of the world could live according to their environment and circumstances. Malians are made of the same flesh and blood as any of us. They feel the same symptoms, pain and needs when pregnant. 

But what they get in Mali is a concrete block which serves as a delivery table, where they sit naked leaned against the wall with ONE midwife attending to receive the baby with no medications or necessary medical equipment accept for a plastic tub and a colourful cotton cloth. This 15 or 16 years old pregnant girl would have to walk from her home under the scorching sun in pain to this "building" which is nothing more than a square mud brick room with corrugated tin roof gaped, ripped open by storms! Can we imagine giving birth in such conditions? I don't think so...we have never experienced that kind of heat trapped within a building with the overpowering stench coming from all those childbirths which took place in there for years.

Then right after the baby is delivered, the mother pushes herself into a sitting position, and gets off the concrete block, picks up her "pagne" on the floor (a piece of cloth they wear around the waist) and covers herself up. Walks out while blood is still trickling down to go wash herself with a bucket of water which is kept ready outside !! Then, she goes to the resting room with straw mats to lie and waits for her baby there. Then they go home with their babies and straightaway start doing all housework...fetching water, cooking and washing clothes and taking care of their husbands. No recovering period ! No vitamins and nutritious food to regain strength. 

So they simply recover while taking care of their babies with no toilets, no beds , no electricity , no running water...no rain for months...no baby clothes, almost nothing to live with ! 

AND worst of all, they usually get pregnant by the time this baby is just a few months old...and the whole process repeats ...again and again for years !

  

So this was the condition in rural Mali in the late 20th century !! and it is still about the same till today. Thank God for the help they get from volunteers which enabled the building of a proper clinic sometime around the year 2004 ! 

Here's a part from the book that explains it :-

" I knew Mali had one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world. I'd read a sobering statistic that placed a Malian woman's lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth around one in twelve, compared to a UK woman's risk of one in nearly four thousand"

I will not share more about the story because there's just too much of it. But i cant help wondering, just HOW much have we taken for granted over here. With perfect living conditions and beautiful environment, do we bother being thankful for a MOMENT !! 

I am not saying we shouldn't be comfortable. I am just saying that we should be thankful for all the comfort we already have. Nothing wrong in wanting the best out of life but its just as important to appreciate what we have been blessed with. 

God is practically pampering us over here and yet we go on complaining. Imagine a Malian women put in our place ! She might not believe that such life is even possible because she has become part of the harsh reality in her world. 

So lets be thankful and be joyful for everything we are blessed with here. 

JUST ENJOY IT !!! :D 

  

NUTS & BOLTS, IN LOVE :D

Whats your idea of  a "romantic " moment or spot ? :)

Before i tell you mine, i wish to share my experience at the Eiffel Tower, Paris.

All my life I've heard people say, Eiffel Tower is the MOST romantic spot in world ...and have seen hundreds of photographs of couples at the tower. So when i got to know that the tour in Europe i was going included Eiffel Tower....i was a little upset that hubby will not be coming along for this trip. Because i was going to the most romantic spot, alone. Of course my aunt and cousin sis was there with me...but still i wished my hubby was going with me. Then i convinced myself that i would soon go again with him :)

And finally after all the travelling and anticipation ...i was there...for real...and that's when i began to wonder...where is the romantic spot ?

It started off with a super long queue which lasted for almost 2 hours before we got the tickets...and while standing there with the breeze blowing pretty hard on your face and chilling your nose and your eyes tearing wasn't too comfortable either ! Then i thought... "i am sure it will be romantic once we get on the escalators". Then i found myself being shoved into a lift that looked like it was made of out of prison bars....and we were all packed in there so close to strangers....ermmm romantic ? not yet for me ! 

Then i thought ..." i am sure it will be romantic to watch the view on the way up " then as i was ascending the tower ...all i saw was glimpse of the city through...iron bars...nuts and bolts and screws intersecting everywhere around me...and i thought....ooookkkaaay....maybe its just the view of the city from right on top that makes it SO romantic.

Then i was finally right on top !! YAY ! i got off the lift and the first thing that happens is...you bump into strangers...walking everywhere...then you try finding a spot by the edge of the railings to get a good view of the city....so we were like ants bumping into each other and finally found an empty spot to stand...and yay ! there we are! ermm...with cold wind blowing so hard on your face that you cant keep your eyes open or your hair off your face to be able to snap a decent picture...

And that's when i thought " Seriously people !!! who in the right mind would find this experience romantic?? "

My idea of romantic is ....to sit by the beautiful Malaysian island beaches ...with my hubby, having a cool drink in hand ...sharing it with him and feeling the soft sand beneath our feet and the soothing cool breeze on our faces which might blow our hair ( though not to the extend that we end up looking like Einsteins !!) so my hubby could gently tuck away the strands of  hair behind my ears to have a better look at my face when he is speaking with me ..while watching the sunset ! Now that's romantic :)

Of course the Eiffel Tower was an exciting place...to be able to spot the ancient historic buildings like the Louvre Museum, Arc De Triomphe and so on. Loved that part of it...and also to see how systematically they have built the entire city ...which looks perfectly aligned. It was the most beautiful city I've seen...yes of course...no one can deny that part ...but romantic !? Not for me ! i am sure there other beautiful places in Paris that would be more romantic but somehow i did not find the whole experience at the tower anything close to being romantic :) 

Still i loved taking pictures of the nuts and bolts...and though there are thousands of pictures of the towers by others..these few pics ive shared here are special simply because i snapped them myself !:)