Her name is TAMARI…
26th April, 1992.
Maboto town, Ghana. The time was 1:00am. It was a Sunday morning. Soft winds whistled through the bushes; the calm moonlight gently lit the village of Mabasa. The soft trickling sound of water could be heard streaking down the village main stream. There was also the familiar barking sound of Popo, the village wrestler's dog. A visitor trekking through Mabasa could easily sense the aroma coming from burning lamps. Loose leaves and empty tin containers gently moved their way through uneven pavements. The sound of crickets enveloped the night.
Everyone had retired to bed when suddenly, a loud cry awoke the neighbors. It was mama Keke again. She was a middle-aged woman who was married to a middle class worker in the state government council. The couple had one child and were expecting another. Mama Keke was 39 weeks gone in her pregnancy and was soon due for delivery. Another loud cry! This time mama Zulu, her next door neighbor woke up worried. She ran out of her apartment hastily to mama Keke's. She knew Papa Keke was not home due to the urgency in the cry. Papa Keke was usually not home because his job as a civil servant was very demanding of his time. Mama Zulu ran towards the direction of the cry and was met with complete chaos. Keke, her first born daughter was naked, crying on the bed. There was a soiled diaper lying next to her, a half finished baby bottle was sitting by the edge of the bed. Mama Keke was lying on the floor next to the toilet. Quickly and instinctively, mama Zulu rushed towards her friend. "Are you okay?" she yelled out but all she got back was nothing but muffled sounds. She quickly picked up her friend, wrapped the baby around in a blanket, picked up the half open baby basket and managed to get them out of the apartment. They made their way into the car. Mama Zulu swung the car door open and secured baby and mother inside the car. Mama Keke shouted "the baby is coming!" With one quick flick of her car keys, she turned on the car's ignition. She yelled out an inaudible instruction to the gate keeper and zoomed off. On the way to the hospital, mama Zulu kept yelling over the back to her friend, "don't worry, everything is going to be okay mama" "just breathe through the contractions" you're stronger than you think." They finally arrived at the general hospital at 2:05am.
Mama Zulu successfully maneuvered mother, child and baby basket into the hospital, managing not to trip over the sidewalk. They finally reached the admissions desk. "We need a doctor please!" "She's in labor!!!" yelled mama Zulu. There was no nurse at the front desk. Then she heard a stern voice behind them asking "so, what is the problem?" Turning, mama Zulu was faced with a fat, short, mean-looking lady with round robust glasses. There was a brown stain on one of her teeth, probably from that tobacco she was chewing. She had what looked like a coffee stain on her left shirt pocket with a half-eaten pen hanging down her hair. She had her hands akimbo and demanded for an answer with her glasses drawn down. "I am the nurse on duty tonight, what seems to be the problem?" she asked, with total disregard. Mama Zulu desperately replied, "She's in labor please. We need a doctor." The nurse looked over their heads and screamed at the top of her lungs to one woman on the hallway "Madam pregnant woman, get into your room now!" She wound around her desk and reluctantly picked up a worn out notepad from the floor, plucked off her pen from her hair and ordered harshly "Write down your admission details here." She had mama Keke admitted to ward 3.
Mama Keke was then seen alongside her friend, panting and crying her way down the hallway to the labor room. On getting there, she sat on the bed, then she stood up again, she stopped, screamed and stooped low to catch her breath. There were two other women admitted to the same room with her. Mama keke's bed was bed number 5, while the other women were on beds number 7 and 9. Her bed was situated right beside the window.
She kept crying and screaming, her friend was beside her and kept giving reassuring words. The two other women also had their significant family members present. The women were seen equally crying and shouting in pains. While labor was going on, one of the other nurses who was just passing by, stopped and dashed into their room. She rushed in and forcefully grabbed a bottle of water from the hands of one of the other pregnant women and shouted "don't you know that drinking this will elongate your labor?" Mama Keke stared with total disbelief since she herself had been thirsty too. The nurse seized the water bottle and walked out of the labor room in anger. As soon as mama Keke heard the door slammed shut, she tip-toed craftily towards her baby basket, reached into it and grabbed her flask. Quickly, she took a sip of water and tip-toed back to her bed.
It was now 5:30am. The loud cry came again, "Ahhhh!" mama Keke was in great pains. The cry coming from ward 3 could only be compared to the sound of soldering iron or chipping gun at a construction site in downtown Manhattan. Mama Keke was at her hour of active labor. She laid flat on her bed in a lithotomy position with her legs propped up and held in place with stirrups. There were two active midwives prancing back and forth between handling mama Keke and getting more delivery supplies. Another mid-wife was positioned on her left side and repeating the words "Breathe mama, breathe!" "You got this mama, you're almost there." Mama Keke screamed loudly again "Ahhhhh!!!!" this time with tears rolling down her eyes. Her friend was on her right. She held her hands with one hand, while Keke was on the other. "Come on Mama, you got this! Push mama! Pushhhhhhh!!!" came the voice of the midwife again. Mama Keke stopped, fell back, proped up again, shouted with great indescribable pain, then breathed profusely before pushing out one more time; her facial veins popping so much that they would almost explode if she pushed any harder.
"Wah! Wahh!! Waahhhh!!!" came the glorious, which sound struck the four walls of the hospital; the cry of a baby. The world stood still for a minute. Inaudible sounds filtered the air. All that her tired brains could make out from them were orders from doctors such as "scissors please?!! I need forceps, she's lost a lot of blood" "we need to get her all stitched up now!!" The doctors, who were now present in the room were busy stitching up the tear from her vagina, while the other midwives handled the new born. They checked for signs of distress, snorted out baby's mouth and nose, clamped umbilical cord, then finally placed baby onto mother's arms.
The old clock hanging on the wall at the front desk of St. Molumba's Teaching Hospital read 8:03am. It was a gentle and quiet morning. The early morning mist occupied the air with slight vigor. Soft baby noises casually filled the air. From the heart of the hospital in ward 3 was a much rather difficult silence compared to the previous night. The new mothers were resting quietly in bed while their little miracles slept satisfactorily in their beds. Mama Keke rested on her bed with one arm laying sluggishly around her head and the other arm settling casually by the bed's edge. Soft rays of sunshine streaked its way through the window resting perfectly on her now tired-looking face. Slowly and gradually, her eyes came open.
"What time is it?" she asked with a husky voice. "Uhm I don't know, let me check." Replied mama Zulu. She stuck her neck out to face the wall clock. "Oh the time is eight o' clock ma'am, do you want anything this beautiful morning?" she replied smilingly. "No dear, my neck hurts. I think I fell asleep on my arm." She said laughing. "Oh stop it, you know I hate seeing you in any pain" her friend responded looking lovingly at the new baby. "So they told me to inform you that breakfast would be served at 9" her friend said looking at an empty tray laying on the floor next to the exit door, "someone must have left it there. The nurses probably; they don't want to be bothered with putting stuff away" she said flaring her nose in disgust. "My dear, anything is possible at St Molumba's, let's just praise God that we are alive and the baby is in good health" responded mama Keke. She spent the next few minutes breastfeeding, cleaning herself up adjusting the bed rails, and then checking to see if it was time for breakfast before dashing into the bathroom to urinate. Breakfast was served at 9 as promised. Mama Keke and her friend both shared one tray. The doctor came in at 12 noon to check on her and the baby. Instructions were given to her per her discharge. She was scheduled for the 5pm discharge time.
"Easy please. You know these doors can fall in at any time" mama Zulu said to her friend while trying to fit through the half broken door with the baby. The door led them to the hallway and then another door led them to the patient common area. On getting to the reception desk they were happy to see a much friendly face than the night before. "Hi!!! Congratulations mama!" said the nurse with so much excitement. "How is the little one doing? I know she was a little fussy last night." Mama Keke responded with a huge sigh "she is sleeping now so we are hoping she stays that way for a while."
"Okay ma'am, agreed. Please come over here and sign your discharge form. And last minute medication list check right here." Mama Keke spent the next ten minutes signing forms and cross checking her medications to make sure she had the required amount given. Finally she finished her discharge check and headed with her friend to the parking lot.
Outside….