What the Heck is that smell???

A very funny lady, Pearl, reminded me of this blog I wrote a while back about smells. I hope no one gets offended


It's not in my nature to be mean...it really isn't. And I don't feel that by posing this question is mean, maybe a little forward, but not mean. For those of you who don't know, I work in a Midwife clinic. All of the midwives are, as I'm sure you can guess, women. There is a certain population of women who live in this city who don't feel comfortable with a man other than their partner seeing their hoo-ha. That is perfectly acceptable. A large majority of the women who don't want men seeing their hoo-ha, even if he is a Medical Doctor that specializes in say, hoo-ha's and the babies who have to travel through them to be born, want a female OB/GYN provider and as luck would have it, we are fully staffed with female OB/GYN providers. Seems that the bulk of women who want to see a Midwife for their prenatal care simply because they do in fact have a hoo-ha of their own and not because they believe in the philosophy of midwifery, are either Muslims or from predominately Muslim countries. A great deal of the women who choose to come to us for their baby birthing needs are Somali women.
Now, I don't know how familiar you are with the differences in American women and Somali women but there are a few. First off, American women don't ordinarily dress like the Grim Reaper. I know that is a cultural thing because God forbid a man see your hair or even worse, the curve of any part of your body but still, it is creepy when you are waiting on an elevator and the door opens and a large Somali woman is standing there with her black whatever the hell those things are called are on. Moving on. Also, American women don't make a habit of dipping their finger tips in henna. I understand that it is decorative, it's just most of the people I know try not to have orange stains on their hands. That is why you wash after using the self tanning lotion. Now I am trying to be as delicate as I can because I do recognize that people have differences. There are also alot of similarities as well. People are people no matter where you come from and Somalia is no different. We have nice, sweet polite Somali patients and we have rude obnoxious Somali patients. Just like American women, personalities from one woman to another are all along the spectrum. And don't get me wrong, I enjoy being around people from other cultures. It is interesting and sometimes entertaining. Not that I have anything against Somali's in general but as a group, I have to say that Somali women have a very unique aroma about them. I wouldn't say it stinks necessarily but I don't particularily care for it. I don't know if it is the food they eat and then the scent of that food secretes from them in some way or is it some kind of scented oil they use? But it is the same with everyone of them. It is STRONG. Imagine smelling someone coming long before they even come in the door. I have been working around these women for the better part of a year and all I really want to know is WHAT IN THE HECK IS THAT SMELL? I have never smelled a group of people that smell exactly the same. It's weird. If anyone knows what the hell this is, please let me know.