CAll The Midwife

I was pregnant with DD1 in 1968 and suffered months of morning (noon and night) sickness. I was hospitalised with dehydration and would have gladly taken any medication offered.

Our GP was kindness itself and kept saying how sorry he was that he couldn't give me anything to ease it but the horrors of thalidomide loomed large.

I shudder every time it's featured on CTM. There but for the grace of God.

Another thought -provoking episode tonight. When I think how close some of us were to the era of Distaval, (pregnant in 72/73, 74/75, 77, 81) my blood runs cold. Drs were much quicker to dish out pills in those days and the drug companies clearly less scrupulous about side effects than today.

'Female circumcision' in Africa was a topic during the very first morning of Breakfast TV.

And still not one prosecution !!!

It was me - I got mixed up with that and the newsreels of orphans going off on ships

It is happening still today and in this country too.

This really was a distressing episode. I must confess to having tears as we watched the little girl sailing away unaware of what was going to be done to her. We are expected to respect the culture of others but this, for me, is too much to stomach.

Sorry Ana I see (now ) that that was what you said.

There weren't any orphans in Sunday's CTM
The little girl had been living with her sister and husband and was going back to British Somaliland as it then was, to her mother who would do it.

Oh yes, getting
It was last Sunday which is nearly a week ago!
There has been so much on the tv about the orphans since then and I have seen pictures of little girls waving goodbye as they went off to Australia.

One of the most harrowing books I read covered this subject - Desert Flower by Waris Dirie, a Somali girl who became a model in the 80's.
She wrote the autobiographical account in the late 90s and, although I'd heard of FGM (just), this book opened my eyes to the horrific reality.
Well done to CTM for highlighting this awful practice which still goes on today.

Jalima, the little girl wasn't an orphan, she was being sent with her mother's blessing to the homeland where she'd be subjected to FGM.

And yes, it still happens, but these days she'd be sent off with the 'auntie' on a plane...

The only difference now is that the little girl waves goodbye at the airport
I didn't think they still sent 'orphans' off to Australia, Canada, etc to goodness knows what horrors.

Oh

The only difference now is that the little girl waves goodbye at the airport

I agree Goldengirl, she looked so happy but you know the horror that was waiting for her.

It was the little girl going off on a 'holiday' on the ship with her aunt[?] that highlighted the horror for me! The woman giving birth having had FGM was bad enough but that little girl smiling was just awful

I can't say when I became aware of it. I will confess that until Sunday I didn't realise exactly what is done to these poor women. It is in fact more horrific than I thought.

I worked in a hospital from 1962 and never came a cross a case and it was not covered in any lecture. Call the midwife is based in Poplar and would probably have had a more diverse population than the northern town I lived in.

I was aware of it during the sixties. It was referred to as female castration but I wasn't sure exactly what that entailed until more graphic details were revealed during the nineties when it started creeping into TV drama storylines and crime thrillers.

Even dear old Inspector Wexford had to deal with it.

No, must admit I didn't know about this until the 90's either. Despite working as a nurse from the 60's onwards this horrific practice had not been within my orbit.
I haven’t seen the episode yet but well done to them for tackling it.

I was aware of FGM from an early age as I remember my father talking about it. He was with Monty's Desert Rats in WW2 in North Africa and I can only imagine it was something he found out about when over there as a young soldier.

Anyone interested in the subject of FGM should read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiogrophy, "Infidel".

Slightly off piste but this is one of the topics to be covered in the new Sex and Relationships Education that some are so up-in-arms about, I'm pleased to note.