By Elisa Morgan
I began the day dancing. Literally. Head bobbing, hands in the air, face beaming. And I wasn't alone.
This morning we ONEMoms bumped along dirt roads in our bus, emerged into a clearing and then were swallowed up in a swarm of colorful women. Yelping into song and dance, they swept us forward into their rhythm mosh-pit-style. Joy. I hadn't expected joy.
| Dancing with Village Reports |
Because in Kenya, moms and babies are dying. Way too many. The stats are alarming:
1 in 10 babies die in their first year and of those 60% die in their first week of life. 1 in five babies die before age five. 6 of 1000 moms die giving birth. Usually of hemorrhage because they give birth at home and are assisted by well-meaning but untrained birth attendants, but also due to other complications in the hospital due a lack of proper care.
Really? Sooooo much effort was being invested into saving moms and children from HIV-AIDS...only to have them die in childbirth? No.
Today I saw a great success story. A tale of digging in and making a difference in a big way.
The dancing stopped and we fell into chairs and exchanged introductions. We'd arrived at the Lwak Nutritional Center, in Kisumu, a program focusing on maternal and child health. Recently, they've undertaken - in partnership with ONE - an amazing study that follows pregnancies, birth outcomes and the health of children in a variety stages of maternity, in order tolearn what works best for moms and babies to live. The dancing women - it turned out - were known as "Village Reporters," elected by their communities to traipse through muddy paths to personally check on new moms and their babies, reporting back their progress to the CDC (Center for Disease Control).
Our team then hiked our way up a rocky crevice to the home of Lillian and her new baby, Emily. Accompanied by our very own "Village Reporter," - also named Emily - we learned that Lillian had tried to make it to the hospital but her labor was too strong and ended up in the untrained attendant's home. We sat on the edge of the bench and were relieved to learn that all had gone well. But when Village Reporter Emily made her post-delivery visit to Lillian, she discovered that the baby had a deformity in her legs and not only advised Lillian to take her to the hospital pediatrician but arranged for transportation. As we met little Emily, we all rejoiced that she'd been attended to early - preventing permanent deformity.
Too many moms and children still die in childbirth in Kenya. The solutions to complete health are multi-layered. We cannot address one issue and overlook others. As one doctor put it, "No woman should
die while giving forth to life."
Today I met Lillian and Emily who both lived. Yes,today there was reason to dance.
Day 3 Daily Action: Today the bloggers are meeting with teachers and students in Nairobi. Watch our video "Chieftainess" about a remarkable woman who is teaching her community about the importance of education. Then share the video with your friends and leave a comment: http://one.org/livingproof/en/story/chieftainess/?rc=onemompartner
I really just wanted to say thanks so much for going to Kenya and sharing your experience online for other women, like me, to read. I started to get involved with HIV and AIDS campaigning back in 2002. sadly, not long after, I found myself in and out of Pediatricians and other specialists offices with my son for the next five years, so my campaigning kind of came to an end. Something has been stirring up within me again over the past three or four months. I recently finished reading Shayne’s book “Global Soccer Mom” and have been trying to work out what and how to get more involved with eradicating global poverty. The ONE Mom’s trip to Kenya has come at the right time for me. With each of your blog posts I have felt like I could be there in Kenya with me. I have greatly appreciated your raw honesty about everything and it has been good to see success among the slums etc. and where aid is helping. Your trip has impacted me so much. I went grocery shopping today and when I walked through the doors to the store I had to take a few deep breaths as I saw so much abundance in food, compared with images of Kibera that I had been looking at just twenty minutes beforehand. I can’t even begin to imagine the impact that it has had on you. So, thank you, may you have safe travels back home. Keep spreading the word ☺
ReplyDelete