Visit to The Royal palace

After an awesome time at the city hall we had an even more amazing time visiting with the King and his right hand the Prime minister. The king is a traditional king which means that his reign is not internationally recognized and the republic basically just allows him to continue his activities within the region. We were taken by vehicle to the royal palace (which mind you is about 500 meters away from the hospital) we were escorted by convoy of the hospital. We entered a dusty square wich looked barren and dry. A few goats were roaming around and the whole atmpsphere was one of a ghost town. The hospital Director is always accompanied by the nursing director, finance manager and the statistics manager in addition to 2 drivers who most times wait outside.

The royal palace looked like an image straight out of National Geographic magazine or a documentary on history channel. There are a set of protocols to adhere to before being granted access to the king. First you have to greet the ministers or helpers of the king, ask permission to visit. There is a lot of greeting and exhanging of pleasantries in the local langauge. When entering the palace shoes have to be removed as the king is always os approached bear footed and empty handed (which significance we later on learned).  We enter a round building with a straw roof, looking around i can see mats on the floor, chairs on one side and an elevated armchair covered with a red carpet or drape which reminds me of those vintage carpets people have in Belgium. The armchair seems to do service as a throne.  There are pictures on the wall of the king meeting with the President of Benin, a paintkng of the former King and the year of his death 2014. There are a few young men of the court present and the announce our presence to the king. We are givem the seats and the mursing director,statistics manager and finance manager are install themselves in the met in front of the throne. One young man goes to collect the King from his quarters and his arrival is announced in local language, we all rise. The king is a man of short stature dressed in a robe of pale pistache color and adorned with embroidery, his headdress reminds me of the description of the biblical 3 wise men who visited the Christian  Messiah at his birth. I can imagine they had similar dress....

The king's countenance is one of peace and tranquility. He smiles almost constantly. I don't know why I am wondering if this is how it would have been like to meet Haille Selassi emperor of Ethiopia Messiah to the Rastafari (a Jamaican religious group) I am sure his entourage was way larger as he was the official head of state. Sorry for getting side tracked...my mind is going 500km/h lol Where was I.

As the king enters his helpers escort him onto the throne. The men seated on the mat lay flat in their stomachs hands turning upwards to greet the king. The greeting the locals use is a melodious almost like humming a song of vowels eee, eee, ooo, ooo, aah aah haha I try....

They do it almost in formation and as one group greets the others the reply to the greeting is always simultaneous and in harmony. The most beautiful greeting I have ever heard!!! This is the greeting the locals always use and as we walked the hospital halls the same sounds responds as people greet each other.

After the king is seated we are seated as well. The men on the mats who are of the local ethnic group inform the king of who we are and our mission. They also translate for us including the hospital director who is from a different region in Benin and does not speak the local language. The king welcomes us and thanks us for our coming...we exchange pleasantries and and end the visit by exchanging gifts. The king gives 2 hands full of what looks like large nuts (similar looking to Brazil nuts but way larger) with pale inside and red skin. He puts the "nuts" in a metal dish and the gift is handed to the local men and they give it to their superior which is the nursing director. The gift is a traditional symbolic gift to bid us good fortune.  How awesome! I usually did all the talking but I was feeling a little intimidated by the entire happening. Who am I that they would organize a meeting with a King who's bloodline goes down to the founding the nation of Dahomey. It's almost like I am dreaming...very surreal. It was nothing like I expected but everything I could dream of. Very cool experience.

The next day we took a trip to the local museum to learn about the history of the royal dynasties.  It was housed in an old royal palace. The guide was a young man dressed in rags. He was very knowledgeable and took us through all the rooms. The rooms were very dark without any working lights installed and dusty. Did I mention how DUSTY it was? It was like a scene from the Indiana Jones movie where he discovers the dusty mummy. There were cobwebs everywhere and bat or rat poop, it was hard to identify. There were several rooms and each room had one case with historical artefacts. All the dust, cobwebs and poop aside this was a crazy place to be. The museum had items from before colonization and they told the story of daily life of a then ruling king. The guide was a great one who captured my imagination and I could vividly see how it would have been like to live inside these royal walls. 

It's just too bad that they do not keep the place clean and there are no lights nor windows because this place is truly a historical gem. I learned that there are no windows for the safety of the king. It seems that in those days there were many tribal wars and the tries to assassinate local rulers to gain territory. A lot of rituals seem rooted in the fear of being attacked or poisened. Like the getting down low on your belly with your hands up is basically showing the king you have nothing to hide in your hands and you submit to his rule and authority. In the museum there was a tiny door which you could only enter through if you squat down really low....also so the king can see you as non threatening. Other doors in the museum are made in such a way that 2 people could never pass simultaneously, again for the protection of the king so he cannot be attacked easily. I will spare you from all the historical details but there was one last thing at the museum which was interesting and those were the fetishists or traditional spiritual men. They use rituals and other means to predict the future and the heal. The kings in the dynasties always consult with these persons (who sometimes are also referred to as Marabou) before undertaking any important voyage. They use visons and dreams to inform the king of upcoming events etc. You know me now my interest was peaked and I needed to know more about these fetishists. Apparently there are plenty but you can't just get to them like that. You have to know someone who can take you there and to go and say hello might be permitted but they would never answer any questions. Bummer for now but I intend to inform again about a visit....

Friday is working day!

Today we went on the floor. I started at the maternity ward where they were having their morning staff meeting. All the personnel is present: midwives, nurses, assistents, students and the gynaecologist with his assistent. The atmosphere is relaxed and the doctor knows everyone by name even the students. They seat me in the middle of the room so I can introduce myself and what I came to do. Apparently the entire hospital had heard of the coming of this Jamaican girl and the only questions I got were about Usain Bolt and Bob Marley....hilarious as I know both of them ;) the questions were very endearing though. Funny thing is I hear reggae music playing on the radio from time to time. How amazing is that....somewhere in the north of Benin where they still have traditional Kings and queens and some people still live in huts they are playing reggae music. Mind blow!

Anyway I got another tour of the floor and for what I saw I have very little words to describe. I saw extremely skilled midwives working in conditions which are unbelievable. My main concern was the lack of proper functioning equipment (They have fetal monitors/doptone but one of them can't be used because they do not have a screw sriver to open the back to replace the battery and they do have a new battery!) and the lack of proper hygiene. When the midwife showed me their emergency kits I cried invisible tears. My heart felt heavy and I wondered how they were able to save anyone's life with a little blue baby boom bag. But these women save lives! They have so much expertise and they don't even know it they want me to teach them things but I realize I am extremely technically trained and in Belgium pretty limited in my autonomy so my skills are no good....I think they are the ones to teach me! 

A thorough interview with the head midwife helps me to understand the challenges they face on a daily. Power and water outage are 2 of the main problems. A delivery room without water or electricity is extremely difficult to operate. 

After my tour I am invited to sit in on a training session about sexually transmitted diseases. How amazing everyone here is so eager to learn. Everyone takes turns reading the slides  the gynaecologist goes over difficult terms and explains them and also asks questions to see of they understand what he is talking about. I have to mention that before the class started everyone got a quiz about the topic whic they will repeat after the session. 

What an interesting class! Very well constructed and taught. 

We have 2 c-sections scheduled for the morning so we head to the theatre which they call "le bloc". I head over there to change. They have a changing area which they do divide up in dirty and clean side. The doctors and theatre nurses all dress in green. There are 2 theatres  one for general surgery and one for cesareans it so happened that it was a busy morning and they had to schedule the cesarean in the regular theatre. The woman was already in the theatre with the OR nurse when I arrived. The anesthesiologists came in  then 2 midwifery students who seemed to be taking charge. Looking around in the OR there was very little material, the bare minimum. Medication for the anesthesia was utilized as minimal as possible. In certain cases patients would wake up during procedure and there would not be enough to thoroughly sedate them (This is what I saw happening in the theatre next door with a little boy who was having a massive abcess drained from his leg)...luckily this procedure will be performed under epidural/RACHI sedation.  The c section went well according to what I would expect. After the baby was born the students took the little one to to other room where they had the rescussitation table. The lamp was not on so it was pretty cold and even though they don't have the same ventilation system in the OR as we do they turn the A.C. unit on. Our little girl was a tiny little thing born at 36w4 days of gestation. After performing the initial check up the lamp was still cold! We wrapped up the little one and took her to the neonatal building which his about 3 buildings away from OR. What they did there had me stunned for a few seconds. Like in a butcher shop the student put the baby on a freezing cold tile counter where on the other side the neonatal nurses received the newborn picked her up by the arm almost flung her on the freezing cold metal scale again. Cause they were not sure about the weight they had her on there for quite a bit. By this time the baby who was born pretty pinkish was pale. 1930g tiny little girl was admitted now but I couldn't stay cause it was a bit much for me at that time. I just needed a break.

Without going into too many boring details it is clear that these physicians, nurses and midwives are extremely talented and multifaceted but lack proper means to perform their duties on a higher level.

Sorry for such a long text but we didn't have Wi-Fi for a few days so I kept on adding without being able to upload.