Hannah Thompson – itinerant midwife
You may recall that my last post was a slightly dazed jumble of happiness and trepidation- I'd landed my dream job with my favourite charity, who had turned around and told me that I am needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Well, it's been several months since then and I have been busy. No,... Continue Reading →
Shitting myself, but thankfully not literally this time.
It's been a long time since my last blog post. This is mostly because I honestly didn't have anything to write about during the second cohort. I often discussed the blog with the rest of the team, and we tried to come up with ideas, but nothing really stuck. It seems ridiculous that it's possible... Continue Reading →
This will have to be several blogs rolled into one. I’ve been having major communications issues due to a broken phone that’s proving surprisingly difficult to repair. The problem is the electricity here- while I’m very grateful it exists for at least 90% of the time, the power surges absolutely destroy the batteries in phones... Continue Reading →
To set the scene, as they say, I'm sat writing this outside my little house, surrounded by children and chickens. We've just had a heavy and rather unexpected shower of rain, which sent every woman (including me) running to rescue her washing- it all felt rather British. Now the world is at rest, sleeping off... Continue Reading →
Three weeks have passed since our trip to Ouaga to meet the volunteers. One week of training, one week of planning, and one week of mild panic about how much there is to do. I am happy to say I couldn’t ask for a better team (and that is genuine joy, not because they may... Continue Reading →
Warning: total clickbait
Genuine question: how do you make suncream soak in when you're among the top 10 sweatiest things in West Africa? Answers on a postcard. We've been back in Loumbila for a week now, getting to know the place and trying to work out what we're meant to be doing. I'll see if the internet will... Continue Reading →
My first thought on arriving in Loumbila was that I had seriously underestimated the African insect situation. It was midnight, and after a four hour delay at the airport, three lost bags, and an hour's drive we had arrived for our in-county training. Mercifully, I realised that our Burkinabé teammates were also surprised by the... Continue Reading →
Confession: I've spent today sat next to a suitcase questioning my life choices. Mostly, I'm wondering if 28 is too young to be having a midlife crisis. Then I wondered... am I having a midwife crisis? And having cheered myself up with that pun, I decided to get on with life. You know when people tell you to... Continue Reading →
Having a midwife crisis 