This time I was prepared, and I was greeted with the same sights as the day before. The sidewalk outside was filled with pregnant women waiting for treatment. Sick women were vomiting into a trash can. The walkway smelled strongly of urine. Inside, women were lying on the floor of the waiting room crying out in pain and getting no compassion or attention. Anne spent the night on the tile floor with no sheets or pillow. Her husband had not called or stopped by. This is one broken down woman. Dorothy said that her husband has abused her in the past, and he still verbally abuses her often. Anne is 35 years old. It is her 6th pregnancy and 7th child. One of her twins, Emanuel's sister, passed away. She spends her days living in a tent, trying to please her husband, and taking care of her five children. This woman has had a HARD life, and I could see it in her eyes today. She was so exhausted, and basically had no motivation. She has a tent full of laundry, hungry kids and an abusive husband to go home to once the baby is born...so why should she have motivation?
I think that having us there to support her helped to raise her spirits a little. We went out onto the street and bought her juice and some water. Then, we walked up and down the halls with her all morning. Dorothy and I joked that we were her little blanc (white) cheering squad. I think because we were there, they finally took her into the little exam room. She was 7cm dilated, and it had been 24 hours since we brought her to the hospital. They told her to go walk some more. So, we walked up and down the halls and outside, and Dorothy and I prayed. At one point during the morning, her husband showed up. She did not look happy to see him. He said hello to us, but did not speak a word to her. He left a few minutes later. That did not help her to feel any better. At noon, we had to leave to pick the kids up at school. It was so hard leaving her there alone in such a miserable place, but most of the women were there alone. We promised her we would be back later in the day to check on her.
We brought the kids home from school and had a quick lunch. Then, it was off to the hospital again. We were hoping there would be a baby, but there was no such luck. She was still sitting on the hard wooden bench in the waiting room. On top of that, she had not seen the doctor since 8:30 AM and it was nearly 2PM. We bought her some more water and juice, and finally got her into the exam room. Dorothy emphasized how long Anne had been in labor and that it was her 6th pregnancy. Finally, they agreed to take her back to a room and give her an IV to speed things up. We were not allowed to go into the room with her. So, we stayed out in the hall.
It was misery watching so many women alone and in pain. One girl in particular really caught our attention. She looked to be my age or younger. She was sitting on the floor writhing in pain. The doctors ignored her and were too busy with other women. A doctor that I had not seen before came into the room. He began yelling at her, and making fun of her for crying. He told her she had to get off the floor. Can I tell you how incredibly hard it was to keep myself from punching him right in the face? She was on the floor because the only place to sit was a hard wooden bench with a small seat. She looked like she would have her baby soon. The doctor saw me glaring at him. I think because I am a white woman, he came over and asked me what was wrong. I said, "what is the problem that you are yelling at her like that?" He responded that she is wearing a Depends diaper and she is a grown woman. I told him, "What does it matter? She is in a lot of pain." He told me there was nothing he could do about it because there were too many people there. Apparently, verbally abusing her was the best he could do. He was such an arrogant man, and he had absolutely no compassion for anyone in that hospital.
A little while later, the young girl went into the bathroom stall and sat down on the floor. Dorothy looked in a saw a pool of blood. We got kicked out of that waiting area, so we had to sit in another area. The girl's friend sat down next to us. She told us that she had delivered the baby. We suspected that she did it right there in the bathroom. The baby was two months early.
As we sat waiting for news about Anne, I watched many women leaving the hospital with their newborn babies. Many of the women I had seen sitting in the same room as Anne in the morning. That means they had their babies and were sent home all within less than 7 hours. Several times, Dorothy snuck back into the room to check on Anne. We found out that they had not actually given her the medicine to speed up the birth. It was going on 36 hours.
Because the hospital is in a rough area and driving here is very difficult at night, we wanted to leave before it got too dark. Dorothy and I were both getting VERY fed up with the doctor. We went to tell Anne that we were leaving and take her belongings to her so that they would not get stolen. But, a young man would not let us through the gate that separates the two waiting areas. Dorothy basically pushed our way past him and went into the exam room to get the doctor. She told him how long Anne had been in labor and that we had to leave. He let us walk back to her room.
She was in a room with three other women. They were sitting on some kind of hard birthing chairs. It did not look sterile. Dorothy asked the "jerk doctor" how long it would be for her. He laughed in our faces and said, "A looooong time." Then, he began dancing around singing the Black Eyed Peas song, "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night". Where am I???
Dorothy said that she is certain God is showing me all of these things for a reason. It is like trying to put together a bunch of puzzle pieces to figure out what I am supposed to get from this. Why???? I think it has something to do with love and compassion. I'm sure of that much. Yesterday, I wrote that this country needs more hospitals. That is true. But, more hospitals will not help much without compassion and love for one another. It was so hard to see any compassion in that place today. Why, Lord? What do you want me to know from this? What am I supposed to do with this?
I took these pictures today when the hospital was less crowded. I wanted to be respectful to the women, so I tried not to take pictures where there were many women around. They truly don't portray how awful that place is.
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| This is the entrance to the hospital. Welcoming, right? |
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| This hallway was filled with pregnant women pacing the halls, or clinging to the walls like this woman. I took the picture when there were no other people in sight so that I wouldn't make anyone mad or get kicked out. |
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| This is the waiting area for the women. When this was taken, it was relatively calm and there were not as many women. That is "The Jerk Doctor" that walked in front of the photo. |
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| This poor woman was at the hospital alone all day, and I did not see a doctor check her. She looked like she was in a lot of pain. |
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