7/11: Evil Eyes

Yesterday was another great day in the field. I conducted two in-depth interviews with mothers that had PPH and were treated with miso. Both were great respondents, and we spent about an hour with each woman (and I took about three pages of notes on each!). I give my interviewer a list of prompt questions, and then she conducts the interview in Swahili. This part takes about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how much of a talker the woman is. Then I have my interviewer review what was said during the interview, and I ask questions about her responses or think of other questions. I had great conversations with both mothers about miso and TBAs, what the problems were and how we could make things better. The women had great suggestions, such as having the community pool together for the TBAs to have a cell phone so she can be reached for emergencies.

I sat and talked with my interviewer for a while after we finished the interviews. There was a woman we really wanted to interview, but we were unable to reach her. I guess when she completed the questionnaire she spoke with this interviewer for a long time afterwards, and her story is great. Even the TBA was disappointed that we weren’t able to get her for in-depth interviews because she has a lot to say. This woman lived in a remote village off of the lake (probably one of the villages I saw on the way to Gombe, where there is only boat access). In her village, at least 5 women die per month due to PPH. She heard from a relative that there was a TBA in this village who had a drug to treat PPH, and so she traveled all the way here to give birth with her. When she heard that there were people coming to the villages to ask women who had had PPH and taken miso questions, she traveled back to the village just to be interviewed, which is when she met my interviewer. She stayed for a week just to be here for the questionnaire administration, and during that time 3 women died in childbirth.

The TBA and her assistant walked us back to the main road when we were done. They asked me questions about where I came from, and had heard of San Francisco before. I asked if they wanted to see pictures, and pulled some out (I always carry some with me, people love them!). I said I had a picture of my house in SF, and my interviewer asked if I had built it myself. I said no, and that I rent, but that didn’t really translate. When I showed them pictures of my roommates, they started pointing very excitedly at Pearl. I said no, that’s not me, I’m on the right. But they kept pointing, and finally my interviewer asked me why her eyes were red. I explained that when people have blue eyes, often the camera makes their eyes look red. She said “oh, ok” and explained that they had all thought that she was evil or possessed, and they were all really worried. They asked to keep one of the pictures to remember me, and they definitely did not want the one with Pearl in it, they took one of my family at Elise’s graduation instead.