Mrs Msumba lives in a village just on the periphery of Lilongwe and has been a traditional birth attendant for the past 30 years. She has a small clinic next to her home and there she conducts between 40 and 80 deliveries monthly, on her own.
She is an excellent TBA and a kind woman - providing safe and humane care the women who come to her clinic. If a woman needs food, she cooks. If a woman needs a shower she prepared warm bath water. While the woman labors she stands nearby offering encouragement. And, if a woman’s labor becomes too difficult, Mrs. Msumba personally escorts her to the hospital in town. Escorting a woman to the hospital is the only time Mrs. Msumba leaves the area; she knows birth is unpredictable and at any moment someone may come to her needing her care.
The women who deliver with her are supposed to pay 500mk (roughly US$3.50) but rarely does she manage to collect that amount. One year ago Mrs. Msumba requested electricity for her clinic (so she would no longer have to attend births with only candlelight), mattresses, and blankets. A friend read the story I wrote about her story online, responded by raising money and managed to purchase a solar panel, a mattress and several blankets.
Mrs. Msumba says the solar powered lamps have made a big difference but she still needs another plastic covered mattress for the delivery room (women now deliver on their cloths on the cement floor - the woman breastfeeding on the floor had just delivered moments before the photograph was taken in that very spot). She also needs to buy one piece of tin roof sheeting to replace an old one which leaks. Assisting Mrs. Msumba is one example of how AMHI and CU are able to support quality care of women and babies.
