Waking up this morning, I wasn't too excited about going to the Urunji office. It's been a few weeks since I was able to go out into the field with the staff - two weeks ago the program in the village got cancelled, and last week I went to the office only to find out the program manager was sick. I was nervous that today would be another one of those mornings. Thankfully, I was very wrong.
The director, program manager and I piled into the Urunji care and travelled to Lilongwe's Area 51, just about 20 minutes from the center of town. We met up with some other staff members, who I was glad to see brought their babies to work today. We drove up to a group of women working on some beading projects. The first thing that they all wanted to do was show me what they had been making - beautiful necklaces, belts and pot coverings. It can take them all day to make one necklace, and they can sell it at the market for 1000 kwacha, or around US$1.80. It's small, but can make a big difference for the women.
While the program manager taught the women how to make efficient soap using dried eggshells, I proceeded to play with the babies. Nothing like holding a 7-week-old baby girl and having her stare and smile at you...
The main part of the morning, though, was a discussion on cervical cancer with the women. During my last talk in Nathenje about HIV prevention, many questions arose regarding cervical cancer, this mysterious thing that people have started talking about but no one really knows the details of. I had done some research on cervical cancer, especially in Malawi, so that I could share the information with the women.
After discussing the basics of cervical cancer, what causes it, and the lack of early symptoms, I opened the floor for questions. In 8 weeks here, I've found that some of the most eye-opening experiences involve listening to questions.
Here are some of the questions that came up and my reactions:
"Does the test hurt? Doesn’t it involve the doctor cutting off part of you?"
- "Even though the doctor is taking some cells, there is no cutting or blood involved." (I'm sorry that years of mistreatment by Western doctors have made you scared of many procedures.)
"Why is cervical cancer treatable but skin cancer is not?"
- "All types of cancer are different..." (I often forget that screening for all types of cancers here is so rare that "treatable" types of cancer are thought to be "untreatable.")
"We buy second-hand underwear here. Can we get cervical cancer from wearing those?
- (Wow, I never would have thought about that.) "No, cervical cancer is not contagious, itself, but please do wash the underwear very thoroughly to prevent infection with HPV..."
"When should someone start getting screened for cervical cancer?"
- (Hmm, the age when most women have sex for the first time is a lot younger here.) "Since cervical cancer is much more likely in people who have sex at an early age, you should begin screening shortly after you begin having sex..."
Perhaps the most important thing I've learned while working with Urunji is that people are so much more powerful when they have knowledge. The women I was speaking to didn't have access to information about cervical cancer before, but my giving them just a bit of knowledge about the subject brought up so many questions that I never would have thought to bring up. Knowledge truly is power.
When we were done with our discussion, one of the women stood up and thanked me profusely for sharing my knowledge with them. It was a powerful moment for me: even though I couldn't understand most of the words that she was saying in Chichewa, I could see just how grateful she was that I had given them information that could protect their health.
Did I mention that the staff member translating for me was breastfeeding her son at the same time? This place is magical.