Yesterday I saw a friend while I was in town buying supplies
for the orphanage. She lives only a few kilometers from our orphanage in the
bush. She has such a big personality and speaks good English so we've become
friends. I saw her in town decked out in her best clothes. She was grinning
from ear to ear and almost skipped as she walked. She greeted me and asked
about my family all the while bursting with excitement to tell me her news.
"My daughter has given birth today... and it's twins!" She went on
and on about how beautiful the girls are and how much they look like her family
and how proud she was of her daughter. Neither she nor her daughter had had any
idea her daughter was carrying twins so it was a surprise. We didn't talk for
too long because she was off to buy more supplies for the unexpected second
baby. Before we parted ways she told me they were naming the girls Linda and
Sheri after me and my mom.
Then today when she came by my house I thought she just
wanted to invite me to go to the hospital to meet the girls. Then I saw the
distress all over her face. As I put out my hand for the general greeting of a
handshake she grabbed me and forced me into a hug which is very unusual in
Zambian culture. Then I felt her tears on my shoulder as she said the words "My
daughter has died." I held her in an embrace as she recounted the story.
Her daughter began to bleed and the doctors couldn't control it. They can't perform
surgery in Kalomo so they arranged to transport her to Choma
Hospital about an hour's drive
away. By the time they arrived in Choma it was too late and her daughter died.
Child birth should be such a joyous occasion, but far too
often it ends in tragedy. I've seen so many mothers die because of pregnancy
and child birth not to mention how many of the babies have died too. I read Nicholas
Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky
and it explains that so little is being done to improve maternal health because
it is not cost effective. For the same amount of money you could provide
malaria medicine and other medical assistance that saves far more lives so
money simply isn't being invested into maternal health. As the book goes on to
say even though it may not be cost effective we should do it anyway because it
is the right thing to do.
One of my sisters had complications with her delivery and
needed a C section. Because she was in America
it was pretty simple. Mother and baby were in distress, the doctors recognized
the signs and took her in for an emergency c section, and my sister and her
baby are fine. Had my sister been a village lady in Mapampi she wouldn't be
alive today and neither would my nephew or my niece. It's not fair that my
friends here in Zambia
die of complications that are so easily treatable in the western world.
I know there is no simple solution to the problems of
maternal health. I do want to see less money being spent on mosquito nets that
end up being used for fishing instead of to prevent malaria which most people
don't even die of these days, and more money being invested into maternal
health. I am so happy that I have a few friends who are midwives with the
desire to work with women in rural areas to improve maternal health. I'm so
happy to know people who are contributing to solutions to this problem.
