Stories From The Field: Improving the Access to Maternal Care

The following story was provided by Carol Hanselman, LifeNet’s Development Associate, during her recent trip to Burundi in Africa in October 2010.

At 5pm on Friday, October 1, 2010, I was in LN’s Burundi office, finishing the work week with a Skype call from AJ, LN Project Manager, in Orlando, Florida.  AJ asked me, “Carol, after your month on the ground in LN operations, you’ve assessed our partner clinics.  What is the maternal care like in Burundi?  Where can we improve?”  I excitedly began to share how the potential for improvement is huge, as less than 25% of Burundian mothers deliver their babies under the supervision of a skilled healthcare provider, so we have incredible potential to increase this number through our clinics.

As I am talking, an incredibly loud noise of moaning and desperate gasping overtakes my thoughts, and amidst the wails I distinguish the word “Mugangaaaaa!”

I knew that word was Kirundi for “doctor” and “nurse,” as the same word was used for both, so I instantly ran into the office and said to Jonathan, our LN Burundi Director, “She’s having a baby!” Remarkably, the night before, I had packed a ‘nurse kit’ with gloves, alcohol swabs, gauze, tape, and other basic first-aid items.  I threw on the gloves and ran to the noise.  At 5pm, it was quite dark in the room, but I could make out the figure of a slender young woman twisting and turning on the maternity bed, her feet braced against the stirrups.  I breathed a sigh of relief to see a Burundian nurse in the room, putting on her own a pair of gloves and preparing to ‘break the mother’s water’. Without light, an epidural, or a fetal heart monitor, we assisted the mother to deliver a tiny baby boy. I remember standing beside the mother at that moment that the baby took his first breath in the world, amazed at the mother – she did a perfect job. I could not erase the grin on my face as I swaddled the beautiful little boy in a colorful piece of fabric and placed him in her arms.  I didn’t ask the mother his name, because the culture is to wait at least a month to name the baby, and then to announce it at a naming ceremony in front of all the family and friends.

As I walked back to the office, I think Jonathan saw me leap for joy.  The moment was a highlight in more ways than one, as I was affirmed in our work, really knowing that such goals of empowering women to have safe baby deliveries are really significant, and amazed that I was just a part of a truly tangible experience of the human component of LN impact.