{"id":52479,"date":"2020-09-18T19:19:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T19:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/?p=52479"},"modified":"2020-09-19T09:07:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-19T09:07:40","slug":"drbalaka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/?p=52479","title":{"rendered":"Dr Balaka : “I want people to see me first and foremost as a qualified doctor”"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead in French<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The most important lesson my parents ever taught me is that there is no limit to my potential as a woman. I have no doubt that I owe my success to the equalitarian education they gave me. It made me self-confident enough to believe that I can succeed at anything I put my mind to. Thanks to these values I can now grow, assert and impose myself in the field of medicine, mostly surrounded by men.<\/p>

Gender equality isn\u2019t a concept that is widespread in DRC, my country. Most people believe that girls are of less value than boys. I have six sisters and one brother; in most Congolese families, this would be perceived a misfortune. I am not entirely sure if my parents felt this way when we were children. Perhaps they did, but refused to feel sorry for themselves. They raised my sisters and I to believe that if we worked hard at school, we could compete with any of the boys. The schools we attended also reinforced this belief. I realise now that we were very privileged to have grown up this way.<\/p>

Our parents have always pushed us to go as far as possible in our respective careers, so we could contribute to society. That is why my father practically forced me to get into medicine when I announced to him that I wanted to study psychology. He clearly thought that this would have been a waste of my potential and excellent grades. I wasn\u2019t motivated but I didn\u2019t want to disappoint him either, so I attempted to register for the entry exam at the last minute, but I had missed the deadline. In the end, the university re-opened registrations and I was able to sign up two days before the exam which I managed to pass even without being prepared!<\/p>

\"\"Attending medical school was quite a shock for me. I saw countless students forced to give up because of the poor learning conditions. Lecture halls were overcrowded, with no projectors or air conditioning and the whole campus lacked regular water supply. We also had to share 15m2<\/sup> rooms between five of us. To make it in this environment, it wasn\u2019t enough to have the skills; you also had to be extremely resilient. There were of course moments when I felt doubtful like the others, but I clung hard to the values my parents passed on to me.<\/p>

After graduating, I joined the Emergency Department of the Kinshasa hospital in 2016. Not to my surprise, all my fellow doctors were men. Many women would have felt intimidated or discouraged but I was determined to prove that I was as good or even better than my colleagues. I worked hard and focused 100% on my patients. My efforts paid off and within two years I got promoted to Assistant Manager. I do at times find it demoralising to listen to those who criticise my appointment. For some it seems hard to accept, let alone to admit that a woman deserves to be in this position, but I try not to let it affect me. Ultimately, what frustrates me the most is not having enough time to think about potential solutions to the challenges we face at the hospital because we are so under-resourced.<\/p>

Nowadays, many patients come to the hospital and ask to be treated by Dr. Balaka. They are shocked when they find out that I am a woman. Although they always end up judging me only on my abilities, I am hopeful that one day, instead of people being pleasantly surprised to have been cured by a woman, they will see me first and foremost as a qualified and competent doctor.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Dr Balaka: \"Je veux que les gens me voient avant tout comme un m\u00e9decin qualifi\u00e9\"<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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La le\u00e7on la plus importante que mes parents m\u2019ont inculqu\u00e9e est qu\u2019il n\u2019y a aucune limite \u00e0 mon potentiel en tant que femme. Je n\u2019ai aucun doute sur le fait que je doive ma r\u00e9ussite \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9ducation \u00e9galitaire qu\u2019ils m\u2019ont donn\u00e9e. Elle m\u2019a rendue s\u00fbre de moi et de ma capacit\u00e9 \u00e0 r\u00e9ussir. C\u2019est gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 ces valeurs que je peux d\u00e9sormais m\u2019\u00e9panouir, m\u2019affirmer et m\u2019imposer dans l\u2019univers de la m\u00e9decine qui est largement domin\u00e9 par les hommes.<\/p>

Le concept d\u2019\u00e9galit\u00e9 entre hommes et femmes n\u2019est pas r\u00e9pandu en RDC, mon pays. La majorit\u00e9 des gens pensent que la valeur ajout\u00e9e d\u2019une fille est bien moindre que celle d\u2019un gar\u00e7on. J\u2019ai six s\u0153urs et un fr\u00e8re, et dans la plupart des familles Congolaises, cela serait per\u00e7u comme une malchance. Pour \u00eatre honn\u00eate, je ne suis pas enti\u00e8rement s\u00fbre de l\u2019\u00e9tat d\u2019esprit de mes parents face \u00e0 cette situation quand nous \u00e9tions enfants. Je suppose qu\u2019ils ont refus\u00e9 de s\u2019apitoyer sur leur sort. Mes s\u0153urs et moi avons \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9duqu\u00e9es avec la certitude qu\u2019en travaillant dur \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cole, nous pourrions rivaliser avec les gar\u00e7ons. J\u2019ai conscience que nous avons \u00e9t\u00e9 privil\u00e9gi\u00e9es. Apr\u00e8s tout, m\u00eame les \u00e9coles que nous avons fr\u00e9quent\u00e9es ont renforc\u00e9 ces valeurs.<\/p>

Au-del\u00e0 de l\u2019\u00e9galit\u00e9 des sexes, nos parents ont toujours voulu que nous allions loin dans nos carri\u00e8res respectives pour nous rendre utiles \u00e0 la soci\u00e9t\u00e9. C\u2019est pour cela que lorsque j\u2019ai d\u00e9cid\u00e9 d\u2019\u00e9tudier la psychologie apr\u00e8s le lyc\u00e9e, mon p\u00e8re m\u2019a quasiment forc\u00e9 \u00e0 faire m\u00e9decine. Il voyait mon choix comme un g\u00e2chis de mon potentiel et de mes excellentes notes \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cole. Je n\u2019\u00e9tais pas motiv\u00e9e, mais je ne voulais pas non plus le d\u00e9cevoir, alors j\u2019ai tent\u00e9 de m\u2019inscrire \u00e0 l\u2019examen d\u2019entr\u00e9e \u00e0 la derni\u00e8re minute mais j\u2019ai rat\u00e9 la date limite. Au final, les inscriptions ont \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9-ouvertes et j\u2019ai pu m\u2019inscrire deux jours avant l\u2019examen\u00a0que j\u2019ai pass\u00e9 sans pr\u00e9paration\u00a0!<\/p>

J\u2019ai quand m\u00eame d\u00e9chant\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019arriv\u00e9e \u00e0 la fac de m\u00e9decine. J\u2019ai vu tellement d\u2019autre \u00e9tudiants forc\u00e9s de renoncer face aux conditions d\u2019apprentissage d\u00e9plorables. Entre les amphis compl\u00e8tement surcharg\u00e9s, sans projecteurs ni air conditionn\u00e9, le manque de ravitaillement en eau sur le campus, et le fait de devoir partager des chambres de 15m2<\/sup> avec quatre autres \u00e9tudiants, il ne suffisait pas d\u2019avoir les comp\u00e9tences requises pour se maintenir \u00e0 niveau. Il fallait une motivation en b\u00e9ton. J\u2019ai eu de s\u00e9rieuses p\u00e9riodes de doutes, mais je me suis toujours raccroch\u00e9e aux valeurs que m\u2019ont transmises mes parents.<\/p>

Apr\u00e8s avoir obtenu mon dipl\u00f4me, j\u2019ai rejoint le Service des Urgences de l\u2019h\u00f4pital de Kinshasa en 2016. Je n\u2019ai pas \u00e9t\u00e9 surprise de d\u00e9couvrir que tous les autres m\u00e9decins \u00e9taient des hommes. \u00c0 ma place, beaucoup de femmes se sentiraient intimid\u00e9es ou d\u00e9courag\u00e9es mais j\u2019\u00e9tais d\u00e9termin\u00e9e \u00e0 prouver que je pouvais faire aussi bien, voir m\u00eame mieux que mes coll\u00e8gues masculins. J\u2019ai travaill\u00e9 dur et je me suis focalis\u00e9e \u00e0 100% sur mes patients. Mes efforts ont pay\u00e9 et j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 promue Responsable Adjointe du service au bout de deux ans. Bien s\u00fbr, ce n\u2019est jamais facile de faire l\u2019impasse des critiques qui ont du mal \u00e0 admettre qu\u2019une femme ait pu m\u00e9riter ce poste. J\u2019essaie toujours de ne pas laisser cela m\u2019affecter. Au final, je suis plus frustr\u00e9e de ne pas avoir suffisamment de temps pour r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir \u00e0 des solutions potentielles aux d\u00e9fis que nous avons \u00e0 l\u2019h\u00f4pital car nous manquons beaucoup de moyens.<\/p>

Ces jours-ci, beaucoup de patients viennent \u00e0 l\u2019h\u00f4pital et demandent \u00e0 \u00eatre trait\u00e9s par le Dr Balaka. Ils tombent des nues en d\u00e9couvrant que je suis une femme. Et bien qu\u2019au final ils ne me jugent que sur mes capacit\u00e9s, j\u2019ai bon espoir qu\u2019un jour, au lieu que les gens soient agr\u00e9ablement surpris d\u2019avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 soign\u00e9s par une femme, ils me voient avant tout comme un m\u00e9decin qualifi\u00e9 et comp\u00e9tent.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read in French The most important lesson my parents ever taught me is that there is no limit to my potential as a woman. I have no doubt that I owe my success to the equalitarian education they gave me. It made me self-confident enough … Continue readingDr Balaka : “I want people to see me first and foremost as a qualified doctor”<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democratic-republic-of-the-congo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52502,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52479\/revisions\/52502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}