"Are you adopted?"

Easter is here and I am enjoying travelling around east Africa during the break. However, before I proceed with the rest of the post, I just want to reassure some of my worried readers - the noisy rooster is still alive and will not be the main course for Easter. In fact I now get concerned for the poor thing if I don't hear it in the morning. The noises from the rooster, the frogs, the random birds, crickets and the boda bodas (the forbidden motorbike taxis)have become part and parcel of everyday life in Jinja for me.  What I will miss this Easter though, are Easter eggs and daffodils; I do like spring at home.

On one of our escapes from the hospital a couple of weeks ago something very funny happened and I thought I would share it with those I haven't already told. We were out at a meal for one of our housemates’ leaving do before he went back to England. At the table, there were several people from around the world, a few Danish girls (young student nurses and student teachers), myself and Sarah, the boys and our Ugandan host family. One of the Danish girls was new to the group and had to be introduced to everyone. At the end of the meal, this 19 year old lady curiously asked me where I was from, she said she was confused by my accent. I did the usual explanation of my dual nationality, Nigerian by birth but have lived in England for a long time. She looked at me with utter confusion and said: "How come? Are you adopted?", at which point I nearly spat out the drink in my mouth as I could not stop laughing. Everyone at the table that heard this looked somewhat shocked. I politely explained migration to her and we all laughed about it.  My biggest regret was not replying with a line that Sarah later suggested... "Yes I was adopted, I am one of Madonna’s kids".

Interestingly, I was not offended by this young lady - this was her first time in this part of Africa, she works in a village teaching young children and to her all she sees of Africa is lack of education and poverty. She only knew one side of the story.  I do not blame her at all as I also often worry about the lack of education amongst some of the parents and children I see in the hospital. Uganda is an ex-British colony, this means that English is an official language in Uganda, in fact lessons in school from as young as nursery classes are taught in English. Despite this, more than 60% of the mums and children I see do not appear to speak or understand English - maybe the problem is mine and Sarah's accents. However, on top of the language difficulties, the majority of mums here are less than 18 years old, some as young as 14 years. This suggests they are not in school or at least not in Secondary school/higher education. This is a huge problem and it contributes greatly to the high child mortality rate we see in these hospitals.

Lack of education plays a major role in child mortality and of course has an enormous impact on the level of poverty these mothers and their children will face. An educated woman is more able to advocate for her family, more likely to seek appropriate health care promptly, less likely to be forced into unwanted relationships, less likely to believe health misconceptions, and be more likely to find a job and help provide for her family. This is why female education and empowerment is one of the millennium goals I wrote about a few weeks ago. The UN identifies how important it is to educate children and not exclude girls from school; in fact, we know that maternal education is the single most effective health intervention we can implement. My recent experiences have shown me the truth behind this statement. As President Kim said: "Education is not only a basic human right, it is a fundamental to ending extreme poverty". More work needs to be done in the community to encourage these young girls to go to school, though sadly, girls are often passed over for education and their brothers preferentially encouraged to attend school.

Whilst this educated young Danish lady can be easily forgiven for her blunder, what is ironic is her need for further enlightenment.  It is one thing to learn languages, sciences and art, it is another to learn about the world around you to avoid the problem of seeing only one side of the story (Click here to hear C. Adichie's TED talk). I am sure this lady will learn a lot on her travels.

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter.