Half way through already

Apologies dear blogger for the lack of posts in March it has been a funny old month one way and another and I have had real problems with my blog particularly uploading photo's so here's hoping that they have been resolved.''
I am now half way through my time here and at last I feel that I may be getting somewhere at work thanks to the support I have received from VSO Cambodia and UNFPA the midwives now seem to understand why I am there and are being a bit more receptive.
I have been working hard on a proposal for securing more funding for them to develop further their work in supervising midwifery practice out in the provinces there are 23 provinces outside of Phnom Penh and a team of competent experienced midwives from PP go out for 1 week at a time and visit hospitals and health centres.
This is of course very labour intensive and demanding on only a few people and because of logistical reasons they just cannot reach all the remote areas where they are needed most I think that I may have found them another donor to support this work and help to translate it into a nationally recognised form of clinical supervision linked to registration so for the time being my star is ascending lets hope it lasts.
I am also now formally working with the Cambodian Midwives Council so I am now ideally placed to influence the above.
The Council is really motoring now and is establishing offices in the provinces to get registration of midwives in place by 2012 it will be a great privilege to help them.
Their other big task this year is to reach agreement on Midwifery competencies which is tricky here as there are two levels of midwives so getting these right is a huge task.
Last week CMA held a workshop in Prey Veng Province which is one of the poorer provinces right smack bang in the middle of the country we travelled by minibus and despite the language difficulties a great time was had by all the midwives were great fun and included me in everything after the first day of the workshop we had a little tour of the town and I will try to post some pictures.
The purpose of the workshop was to put together a plan for next years activity I did a presentation on some of Cambodia's new maternal and child health  of which eg fertility levels and  uptake of births in govt health facilities havestatistics some all improved however there is still much to do and I want them to grasp the concept of targeting CMA activities to the provinces with  the biggest needs as they do not have the capacity to do everything.
As a result we have a plan and managed to do some prioritisation.
On the social side I had another "visit" this time from Pauline and Mervyn who were on a tour of Asia and called in to Siem Reap to see the temples at Angkor Wat this gave me the chance to take a couple of days off and go back to Siem Reap one of my favourite places
I have known Pauline since I was a student nurse in Huddersfield she was a medical ward sister and a great role model for me so it was great to meet her and Mervyn. Unfortunately their schedule was changed at the last minute which meant that we didn't have much time together but as the saying goes its quality not quantity that matters thanks so much to both of you for a lovely time.
Last week my great ICT group were together again for our second lot of language training this time it was here in PP. Some of my chums I had not seen since October my X room mate Vicky was not with us as she has had to return home due to her husband's illness so I wish them both well.
The language class was harder this time with much more conversation I was bottom of the class but I still learned a lot and will try hard to put it into practice.
we had a young bright and enthusiastic teacher called Sopheak she was great and very patient!
In the evenings we did a "Cambodian version of Come Dine With Me" what larks Pip! I partnered with Janet for the last night for a dining experience with style and guess what we won! against very stiff competition I might add and despite Janet's husband Dave giving us his lowest marks ( that's loyalty for you!)it was great fun seeing all the film footage including bedroom scenes I will remember it forever.
One of the down sides of being a VSO volunteer is that volunteers come and go with increasing regularity and it seems that we are always having to say goodbye to someone whom you have grown very fond of next weekend we say goodbye to Danny who finishes his 6 month assignment with the Ministry of Education and returns to Scotland. He has been a great pal but on the up side he lives in Sterling a place David and I visit every year so we will certainly be dropping in to see him and Joan when we go in 2012.
The best news I have had though in March was that Sally and David have now booked their trip here in June they are coming to PP for 4 days then we are flying off to Malaysia for a 10 day holiday together which will be wonderful I cannot wait!!
Lea Howie
Kath

1. 
   

some of my midwife colleagues at CMA 's planning workshop

Prey Veng Province

Some of Cambodia's finest Midwives'