Save the Mothers International
Meet Nalepo
Our Stories
Nalepo's Story
The phone rings with an unknown number, and after a moment of hesitation she decides to answer.
​
The desperate voice on the other end belongs to a woman she has never met. As Nalepo listens to the frantic woman she begins to piece together why she is receiving this call. The woman is a traditional birthing attendant, just like Nalepo. And in a moment of shared responsibility, Nalepo realizes the urgency - the life of a mother under the care of this unfamiliar voice is hanging by a thread.
​
Through the crackling and breaking of the cell phone signal Nalepo asks questions about how labor and delivery went and the status of both mom and baby. The problem becomes evident, a retained placenta is endangering the mother's life. The Save the Mothers training echoes in Nalepo's mind; she knows the solution. The only question is, can she make it there in time to save this mother's life? Nalepo quickly instructs the woman to get mom and baby to the small village clinic down the road. Nalepo will meet them, there might be a doctor present, and it is their best chance.
​
Nalepo arrives at the clinic to find the frantic woman from the phone clutching a newborn, a mother weak from blood loss, and a young doctor standing over them. The doctor confirms Nalepo's diagnosis, the placenta has not fully delivered and the mother does not have much time for them to stop the bleeding. Just as she is beginning to feel hopeful, the doctor's next words cause Nalepo's stomach to drop. "I agree the problem is a retained placenta, but I do not know how to help her," he admits. Nalepo takes a breath, steadies herself, and explains the manual evacuation procedures aloud that she had learned weeks before in Save the Mothers training. The doctor glances at the mother lying on a cot, hands Nalepo a pair of gloves, and steps back to let her work. A few hours later, Nalepo, the woman from the phone, and a mama holding her baby all walked back out of those clinic doors and got to go home.
Meet Seneyo
Our Stories
Seneyo's Story
The phone rang one evening and Seneyo was greeted with the sound of her mentor's voice.
​
But this was no ordinary phone call to catch up, it was a call for help. Seneyo was being called in as backup, a common practice when traditional birth attendants face a complicated delivery and have tried all the tricks they know to no avail. Understanding the urgency of the situation, Seneyo quickly agreed to assist.
​
Arriving at the boma, Seneyo pushed back the fabric curtain that hung in the doorway of the mud hut to find her mentor kneeling next to a young mother, desperation on both of their faces. After being told the details of how this laboring mother, only 14 or 15 years old herself, had been pushing fruitlessly for hours, Seneyo got to work doing what she was trained to do. Knowing that a mother this young was high risk for both mother and baby, she knew she needed to get this baby delivered as quickly as possible, and she knew just where to start. Seneyo explained to her mentor that she had learned a new technique during the Save the Mothers training she had attended, but her mentor was hesitant and resisted. Several minutes passed as traditional techniques continued to be tried and failed before Seneyo was able to convince her mentor to give this new method, McRobert's Maneuver, a try. Seneyo ran through the simple steps in her mind and explained them as she went. Minutes later, the baby was delivered. Seneyo smiled as she told the story, recalling the collective shock on faces and open mouths of everyone in the room.