It Takes a Village - UPDATE - A Mother's Life is Saved

You may remember in my travel-blog I told of a man who stopped us on the road when we were returning Djati after the school celebration. He asked us to help a pregnant villager. Juan and Raquel went to the aid of the woman and found that she was in labor and the baby was breech. Unable to turn the baby, they drove the woman to Quebo for medical assistance. Sadly, the next day we learned that the baby had died. We were uncertain as to the outcome of the woman, as Raquel and Juan were asked to leave after dropping the woman off for medical service.

Here's an update from Maritza

These pictures are of the woman that was pregnant. We stopped at her village and she ran out to meet us and to thank Juan and Raquel for having helped her. 

Dr Mafalda, Mariama hugging Flavia, Juan, Raquel

She lost her baby and proceeded to tell us that once Raquel and Juan were asked to leave the hospital area, the nurse told her, "we have to take the baby out. The baby is healthy but "we do not do c-sections here and we have no way of giving you a c-sectionand Bissau is too far you to go. You will die."

The baby was dismembered to get him or her out.  It was a very sad ending and we were sorrowful. This woman had a similar pregnancy before.  Our advice to her was to head for Bissau if she gets pregnant again.

Juan, Mariama, Raquel

Her name is Mariama and appeared to us to be about 21 years old or less. She was one of the lucky ones. The fact that we came by when we did saved her life, otherwise both would have died.

Raquel, Mariama, ?, Juan and Flavia (Juan's wife)

I'm very happy to see that Mariama is alive. We were very concerned about her.

As I wrote in my previous post: Childbirth is the #1 killer of women in Guinea-Bissau.

This incident is a perfect example of why we are adding medical outreach services to our ongoing projects. We will have a visiting doctor who will go into the villages twice a week to perform much needed services to the people. I'm also looking into providing "birthing kits" (birthing kits provide the essential items to promote a safe, clean delivery and to encourage good aftercare)

But....We'll need your help. Stay tuned  - Will announce our next projects soon.  

YOU can make a difference in Guinea Bissau!