The baby clothes were dirty rags

30/10/2008

A BMS midwife in Afghanistan tells the story of one of her patients.

She came to us from the ante-natal clinic, in labour accompanied only by her husband. She was holding onto him and they were carrying nothing. Although I have seen a lot of women from far off villages I don’t think that I have seen one quite so dirty before. She looked old but, as it was only her second baby, she couldn’t be that old. A life of poverty and hard work soon ages women here in Afghanistan.

She had the baby fairly quickly with no problems, I had already asked them what they were going to wrap the baby in and her husband produced a dirty piece of cloth wrapped up in an even dirtier torn blanket. No nice, new or clean clothes here, just rags.

Sometimes the carer will go to the bazaar to get some soft material but when I asked the husband to do this, they were so poor that there was no money even for that. They had no clean clothes for her and no cloths for the mother either.

The next morning I went to examine them, I thought they would be able to go home; the hospital was full and we needed beds.

When I unwrapped the baby, in the same piece of cloth as the afternoon before, she was filthy, which took a while to sort out.

The mother was just as dirty but there was nothing much I could do about that as she had nothing to change into. After examining them both I gave her a contraceptive injection and they went on their way. I didn’t even ask for the small fee that the women usually pay.

Poverty and cleanliness here depends on how much water is available. This summer has been a hard one and in some areas many wells are dry and there is drought. When the little water that there is, is necessary for watering the wheat and potatoes that will keep the family through the next months, cleanliness and clothes are a low priority.

In our own countries, where we think nothing of leaving taps running, of having daily showers and washing our clothes frequently, this is difficult to comprehend.

Add to this villages where not one person is literate, and where there are no radios, TVs or books, then there is no opportunity to learn how important to health cleanliness is. I hope I was compassionate and caring, and I pray that I reacted to her how Jesus would have done.

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News from 2008