Last Sunday, half the world marked and celebrated Mother’s Day. Women were appreciated by their children, partners and friends who sent them congratulatory messages for being mothers. And we beamed and smiled and felt good about it.
But on that same day, about 20 women died while in the process of becoming mothers. In Kenya, about 8,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related complications — something akin to mass murder. At the same time, many women suffered through painful tears as their bundles of joy pushed through.
As a result, tens more suffered debilitating obstetric fistulas (tears in the birth canal) and were shunned by their loved ones and community members (neighbours and so forth) because they couldn’t control their short and long calls; and so they were called names and shunned for being smelly and dirty.
In shame, these mothers lost their self-esteem and confidence and became pale shadows of their former selves. They watched as their husbands found new lovers, their relatives avoided them, and their children looked at them funny.
For these mothers — and they are in their hundreds in Kenya — the joy of motherhood is not as glorious as it is for those whose experiences are more colourful.
And let’s not forget the tens of women who are detained in hospitals and health centres for not having the ability to pay their maternity bills. These women suffer on the cold floors of the clinics for days, sometimes with their newborn babies, until a Good Samaritan comes along and frees them from their bondage.
Free maternal health
So why am I being so melancholic when I should be in a more celebratory mood as a mother?
It is because I appreciate that while my life is blessed (and I thank God for that), I do appreciate that thousands of Kenyan mothers are not having it as good, so they are not celebrating. For these women, we must send a prayer for God’s grace to alter their destiny.
Already there is hope with President Uhuru’s declaration of free maternal health; but until that declaration is put into practice and enforced all over the country, women will continue to be turned away from hospital gates for not having registration and admission fees. Women will continue to deliver outside the gates of the maternity wing. And women will continue to give birth in the forest and bushes, with friends for help, or even alone.
I would hate to imagine myself in such a scary and shocking scenario, so what can I and mothers like me do to change the tide for women who are not as fortunate? What kind of support can we provide the millions of women for whom motherhood is not as blessed or as joyful? What is your take? Please share it with me (njokikaruoya@yahoo.com) and let’s make a difference for Kenya’s mothers so that pregnancy can stop being a death sentence for many of our women and girls.
Meanwhile, I bow down for all the mothers in Kenya. Cheers!
