The RCM has been engaged in midwifery twinning in various
countries since 2012 but only started the Bangladesh Twinning Project in July
2017. Twinning is reciprocal so as we
hope to help strengthen the Bangladesh Midwifery Society (BMS), we also hope to
bring learning and new ideas back to midwifery in the UK. It’s a crucial time in the project, nearing
the end of our first year – which has seen many successes and challenges – and
helping to prepare for an election for their executive board members, voting
for which will be fully electronic for the first time. New members are
frantically enrolling so that they can be eligible to stand for the board, or
to vote for their preferred candidates. With
our help, BMS have hired 6 student midwives to help with data entry and 40-50
new members are joining every day – I’m sure the RCM would love to match
that! I’m here in country for a week to
support the preparation, meeting with the Election Commissioners who are
overseeing the process and supporting the (one) staff member and outgoing
executive officers, plus meeting key stakeholders. This involves lots of cups of tea and
biscuits so not good for my waistline!
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| Tea and biscuits with the Director General for Nursing and Midwifery at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare |
Travelling on my own this time, I’m staying in a safe hotel
near the Diplomatic section of the city.
I’m using the time to make phone calls and cat-nap to counter the
jet-lag.This requires long Uber journeys across the congested and polluted city of Dhaka to get anywhere. Tomorrow I may take my Kindle! Yesterday
a Bangladeshi colleague asked me how I spend my evenings in the hotel. She was worried I would be bored or
lonely. In fact, the evenings fly by as
I have to keep up with e mails, expenses, writing up notes and preparing
presentations in addition to video calls with family, blogs, social media – and
often evening meetings over dinner. I’m
lucky to have a couple of long-term friends in Dhaka (though both happen to be
away this week) so on other trips I’ve spent time with them too.
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| With colleagues from the Bangladesh Midwifery Society |
We try to practice the ‘rule of thirds’ in our twinning
projects, something we learned from the Dutch midwives. This involves making sure that we spend at
least one third of our awake-time with national colleagues, a third with those
from our own or a similar culture, and a third alone. So, I divide the day into morning, afternoon
and evening and try to only fill two of those sections to enable sufficient
alone time. I’m not very good at that –
but there’s always tomorrow! It’s also
important to get some sleep and this time I’ve brought my own pillow from home
which is making such a difference.
What’s on my packing list will have to be the subject of another
blog! Meanwhile, thanks for reading. If you’re not already a member, join the
RCM’s Global Midwifery Facebook Page to follow my travels https://www.facebook.com/groups/499668586833110/?ref=bookmarks
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| Comfy with my own pillow |
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