It's a Boy!

Yesterday I thought I would stop by the clinic, just to say hi to the workers and see if there was anything going on. Much to my surprise, there was a girl, probably 16 or 17, who had just gone into labor and was about to deliver her first baby. Epaphras, the nurse at the clinic, shooed me in the way of the baby birthing room, and soon enough I was standing next to the girl and her mother, fanning her to keep the flies off as she went into labor. I can honestly say it was one of the most surreal experiences I've had since being in Chad. I don't know that I would have guessed that I would be cheering on a  girl, most likely 5 years younger than me, while she brings her first baby into the world.
Most women don't name their babies until about a month later, when they are sure it will survive for a while at least. Especially with their first child, the chances of surviving are not all that great. Many times, if you ask someone how many children they have, they will say how many are living and how many have died, and in my experience there are usually 2 or 3 (sometimes more) that have died, unless the person is really lucky. A lot of this can be easily prevented, a lot of it they have the resources for, and I haven't even scratched the surface of understanding how healthcare works in this culture. One thing I do know is that everyone here has confronted death. They process it. They take time to grieve. And I have learned a lot from their perspective.