Thirteen years ago, Zawadi a rice farmer from Mtwara region in south east Tanzania gave birth to a baby girl in her ninth month of pregnancy. After three days of labour, she was taken to the local dispensary where the health workers delivered the child by vacuum extraction. Zawadi’s daughter did not survive.
The eldest of two daughters to Shakira and Lagamini, Joyce was born with two badly deformed legs. One leg was bent at the knee with the lower leg and foot pointing outwards. When she was a small baby, her mother took her to two hospitals, neither of which could do anything to improve her situation.
Rehema barely looks old enough to have given birth a year ago. Nor old enough to cope with the devastating loss of a child. But she has experienced both.
Rehema doesn’t know exactly how old she is, she looks about 17....
25 year old Aisha from Dodoma went into labour with her second child at home. The baby was full term and there had been no complications during the pregnancy. After a day of contractions at her home and with no pain relief, Aisha made her way to the local dispensary where she spent another twelve hours in labour.
Three year old Rabia from Lushoto was born with clubfoot – a congenital deformity where the foot is turned on its side pointing inwards. Without treatment, Rabia would have never walked properly and may have faced exclusion from school and work opportunities later on. It is a debilitating condition which can have a devastating impact on a child’s life.
