This is a story of friendship between a young aid volunteer and an inspirational Midwife in Mali. So you might think..."gosh! i can imagine it". But believe me when i say, until you read the book you cant possibly imagine it. Of course we have heard and watched on TV about these remote African villages and their living conditions. Yet nothing prepares you for a story like this.
Now, i don't dare to say that i can imagine what these women are going through...because i believe we simply cant imagine it. We live in a far too comfortable world where even the poorest ones among us can be considered having a comfy life, compared to Malian of course !!
I often hear pregnant mothers speak about the difficulties they go through during pregnancy, childbirth and then taking care of their babies. With so much support from family and friends..with super clean hospitals and homes. With overflowing gifts from friends and family to help us start caring for the babies. With nutritious food and all the medical care we need available. With good weather conditions where the worst could be a heavy rain or a sunny day...nothing more...nothing less ! With cars to travel anytime anywhere. Yet...we speak about how difficult it is. And become irritated and depressed with all the pressure of being a young mother.
Now it makes me wonder...how it is possible with the same qualities of being a women just like us, these mothers in remote parts of the world could live according to their environment and circumstances. Malians are made of the same flesh and blood as any of us. They feel the same symptoms, pain and needs when pregnant.
But what they get in Mali is a concrete block which serves as a delivery table, where they sit naked leaned against the wall with ONE midwife attending to receive the baby with no medications or necessary medical equipment accept for a plastic tub and a colourful cotton cloth. This 15 or 16 years old pregnant girl would have to walk from her home under the scorching sun in pain to this "building" which is nothing more than a square mud brick room with corrugated tin roof gaped, ripped open by storms! Can we imagine giving birth in such conditions? I don't think so...we have never experienced that kind of heat trapped within a building with the overpowering stench coming from all those childbirths which took place in there for years.
Then right after the baby is delivered, the mother pushes herself into a sitting position, and gets off the concrete block, picks up her "pagne" on the floor (a piece of cloth they wear around the waist) and covers herself up. Walks out while blood is still trickling down to go wash herself with a bucket of water which is kept ready outside !! Then, she goes to the resting room with straw mats to lie and waits for her baby there. Then they go home with their babies and straightaway start doing all housework...fetching water, cooking and washing clothes and taking care of their husbands. No recovering period ! No vitamins and nutritious food to regain strength.
So they simply recover while taking care of their babies with no toilets, no beds , no electricity , no running water...no rain for months...no baby clothes, almost nothing to live with !
AND worst of all, they usually get pregnant by the time this baby is just a few months old...and the whole process repeats ...again and again for years !
So this was the condition in rural Mali in the late 20th century !! and it is still about the same till today. Thank God for the help they get from volunteers which enabled the building of a proper clinic sometime around the year 2004 !
Here's a part from the book that explains it :-
" I knew Mali had one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world. I'd read a sobering statistic that placed a Malian woman's lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth around one in twelve, compared to a UK woman's risk of one in nearly four thousand"
I will not share more about the story because there's just too much of it. But i cant help wondering, just HOW much have we taken for granted over here. With perfect living conditions and beautiful environment, do we bother being thankful for a MOMENT !!
I am not saying we shouldn't be comfortable. I am just saying that we should be thankful for all the comfort we already have. Nothing wrong in wanting the best out of life but its just as important to appreciate what we have been blessed with.
God is practically pampering us over here and yet we go on complaining. Imagine a Malian women put in our place ! She might not believe that such life is even possible because she has become part of the harsh reality in her world.
So lets be thankful and be joyful for everything we are blessed with here.
JUST ENJOY IT !!! :D
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