Somalian patients

[Zhlake]

I am wondering if any of you have experience with Somalian culture and childbirth. I work LD/postpartum/nursery and our small town has had a huge influx of Somalian workers. This transition has been very rocky in our unit, even though we are very accustom to working with other cultures (nearly half of our deliveries are hispanic). I am trying to do some research, but am not finding much. Any input appreciated!

[Freedom42]

Here's a story about a town that has been taken over by Somali refugees - over 1,000 in a sleepy college town of 20,000.

http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2007/nov/03/emporia_readies_more_somali_refugees/

The comments are especially interesting.

The comments posted by readers are appalling. Unfortunately, they're not surprising.

I live in a part of Maine that has seen an influx of African refugees over the past five years or so. Personally, I believe their arrival has enriched our community. Many of my classmates are Somali and Ethiopian. Many of them, like me, are studying to be nurses. Our instructors encourage them to offer cultural perspectives in class.

Unfortunately, many of them have not received the same welcome in town. Many have been greeted by the same disappointing attitudes voiced by some of the posters on this thread -- people who absurdly equate rude behavior with ethnicity, for example, or who can't figure out why refugees from other countries come across as demanding. Could it be that after surviving rape and terrorism in their own countries, after seeing family members murdered, they've learned that the only way to stand up for themselves is to be demanding?

By the way, if behaving "like us" means sharing the ethnocentric attitudes voiced by some of the previous posters, I hope I don't behave "like us" either. When I saw the title of this thread, I logged on thinking that I would learn about cultural aspects of caring for patients from other countries. Instead, I've learned about cultural aspects of nurses from my own country. How depressing.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Could it be that after surviving rape and terrorism in their own countries, after seeing family members murdered, they've learned that the only way to stand up for themselves is to be demanding?

Very good point, I had never thought of that before.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

There are varying degrees of FGC, with the most extreme being removal of the privy parts, labia minora, and most of the labia majora. The labia are sewn shut with a small opening left for urine and menstrual blood.

The 'mildest' form (if it can indeed be called mild - I don't think so) involves either making a pinprick mark on or removing the sheath (prepuce) covering the privy parts. This sheath is analogous to the male foreskin, as the privy parts is analogous in embryonic development to the glans member.

So why don't we consider removing the clitoral prepuce in girls?

Castration is removal of the gonads - ovaries or testes.

I think all of it - male, female and any degree, is mutilation.

I formed my opinions of female genital mutilation after reading this book- written by a Somali woman who survived this horrible tradition. Not all girls live through it.

http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Flower-Extraordinary-Journey-Nomad/dp/0688172377/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-9847523-5629406?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194571980&sr=8-1

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Oh, I think it is horrible too. No argument there. Actually, horrible isn't a strong enough word. I will definitely look into that book. I just finished reading a book too, called Warrior Marks by Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple and it was really hard to read. She traveled to Africa, stayed for a while, and talked with women who'd been cut, women who did the cutting, and various other elders of the communities she visited. Very eye-opening.

There is a very good article in one of the August-September issue of AWHONN's Nursing for Women's Health. I will try to find it and post a link.