STORIES

Kadiatu Kargbo

Kadiatu Kargbo, a local community health worker, provides care to pregnant women in her village of Surbehun and at RHCI’s Mbao-mi Mother’ Home. From cooking to laundry to supporting laboring mothers, educating fathers, coaching on breastfeeding, and caring for newborns, Kargbo is a life line of solutions and emotional support.

In Surbehun, drinking water is collected from a nearby swamp, and it is boiled only for babies. With water-borne diseases a constant threat, RHCI is working to organize and resource village and government partnerships to build a clean, sustainable water source.

Kargbo remembers life before RHCI and the Birth Waiting Home. Families carried laboring mothers in hammocks for three-miles to get to Tikonko’s Health Center.

“Many women and babies died,” says Kargbo. “But now no one gives birth in the villages any more. Baby diseases and delivery complications are no longer happening.”

Kargbo also enjoys the trainings offered by RHCI and its partners. “So far, no deaths,” says Kargbo “The trainings improve our skills.”

Sowoh Rogers

When Sowoh Rogers thought about giving birth to her fourth child, she couldn’t stop thinking about the baby she’d lost. She didn’t want to risk another delivery without a skilled attendant.

At 37 weeks, Rogers’ community health worker advised her to make the five-mile trek from her village of Kigbai to RHCI’s Mbao-mi Mother’s Home where she could rest, eat well and attend educational classes.

When labor started, Rogers was transferred to Tikonko Health Center where she safely gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Kadiatu

Kadiatu was 20 and already a mother of three when she became pregnant with her fourth. At 38 weeks, Kadiatu’s health care provider said it was time that she make the three-hour trek from her village of Nyama to RHCI’s Mbao-mi Mother’s Home. When labor started, RHCI safely transferred Kadiatu to Tikonko’s Health Center where she gave birth to a healthy baby boy under the care of skilled attendants. Kadiatu returned to Mbao-mi to recover for a few days before RHCI drove Kadiatu and her newborn back to her village where her husband and other children awaited their joyful return.