What an amazing three days!   The first course concluded and we have begun the second running of the same for women from further up in the northern section of the group ranch.  What a success!  The women learned everything from dressing wounds, determining a dangerous pregnancy, prenatal and post natal care and proper nutrition during pregnancy.  They also added to their mid-wife skills as their teacher is a Professional Mid-wife from Oregon who volunteers her time to teach women in Africa about this and more.

The funniest part of the course for the women was seeing what sperm looked like, tales and all.  The most interesting questions revolved around pregnancy; such as: can twins be from two fathers?  Is the milky substance on the babies face due to the fact that the mother had extra marital affairs?

The funniest part of the course for the teachers was watching the re-enactment of a Maasai women giving birth with her mid-wives in attendance.  It was absolute pandemonium; yelling, pushing, shoving, laughing, cajoling, bating, and rocking the poor mother until the baby came out.  I have never seen such excitement in my life!  The teacher’s and I agreed that if nothing else it served to scare the baby out of the mother in good time, thus shortening labor.

The women were interested to learn what an important part nutrition plays in not only the babies development and general health for years but also how good nutrition also helps the mother during birth and after.  A long standing custom in this area is that a woman should not eat much during pregnancy for fear of growing a large baby.  Without hospitals large babies can prove fatal so it is a real concern.  The teachers explained ways of gaining proper nutrition without endangering mother or baby and insuring proper health and deliveries.

The women are volunteering to become trained health care providers in their communities.  The Leakey Collection is hosting refresher courses every two months and will oversee the development of this ongoing education.