Documenting EMC’s lifesaving programs in Malawi and Uganda
Clancy McCarty travels to Malawi and Uganda with photographer and filmmaker, Venetia Dearden to document Every Mother Counts’ programs to improve maternal health.
By Clancy McCarty
Last month, I traveled to Malawi and Uganda with photographer and filmmaker Venetia Dearden, to document the programs Every Mother Counts is supporting in these countries. Exactly a year before, I’d traveled to Tanzania to touch base with the women and midwives we’d filmed four years earlier for “No Woman, No Cry” and to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Traveling to Africa has never been a stress-free experience for me — both in working there and in visiting as a tourist. While planning this new trip to two African countries, I had to assure myself it would all come together upon arrival.
I spent last year traveling to Haiti to film the midwifery students and my goal with this trip was to continue this aspect of storytelling by creating short films about the women and caregivers supported by on-the-ground implementing programs, like We Care Solar in Malawi and Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation in Uganda. We chose to go to Malawi in February because We Care Solar was doing their first round of solar suitcase installations and I could film a clinic before and after it received electricity.
February is the rainy season in Malawi, which made it extremely difficult to get to the clinics we were aiming to film. We spent an entire day stuck in the mud but eventually found a clinic about 1.5 hours from Lilongwe (where we were staying). We hung out at the clinic for three days filming with Seda, a 25-year-old nurse-midwife who had been placed at Chakhaza Health Center right after he graduated just last fall. Seda is the only person on staff in the maternity ward, and therefore on-call 24/7. We spent time watching Seda provide care for the women who came in each day for antenatal and post-natal visits, contraceptpion shots, and of course deliveries. We also became friends with the women in the postnatal ward and the so-called maternity waiting home the women set up at the back of the clinic grounds. There was no midwife on staff prior to Seda’s placement last fall, and now women are traveling from all over the country to make sure they have a skilled birth attendant when it’s time to deliver. The government also made it illegal to give birth at home, which is why women and their relatives stay at the waiting home at the back of the clinic, sometimes for weeks at a time to ensure they won’t go into labor on their way to a clinic.
This clinic had solar power installed 20 years ago but it was never maintained and hasn’t functioned for years. Women have since been expected to bring batteries with them when they arrive in labor so Seda can work with a flashlight during their delivery. The first night we spent at the clinic we witnessed what it was like for Seda and the women to labor and deliver in darkness, with only a flashlight. I came prepared with my headlamp to assist me in my work. It was wild to be in an environment completely off the electrical grid where women traveled in labor on bicycle in complete darkness and where all Seda had was a flashlight. Every night Seda would deliver at least two babies in the dark. Electricity was just one of the many supplies he lacked.
Venetia and I worked with a local translator from the Ministry of Information, Chimwemwe, which means “Happy” in Chichewa (who was pregnant herself), and Andrew, our driver/guide from Responsible Safari. Andrew, although from Blantyre, was familiar with the local district medical offices so he ended up introducing us to Chakhaza and securing permission for us to film there. Together we spent our days filming at the clinic, visiting women’s homes after they were discharged following delivery, and then would drive back to Lilongwe to recharge batteries and nap before heading back to film at night. We usually travelled with camping supplies in case we needed to stay overnight at the clinic.
Glady’s baby boy, Andrew, whom she delivered at night with only a flashlightThe short drive back started with one extreme in the rural areas and dirt roads lined with tobacco and cornfields, into the bustling, modern city of Lilongwe, where English was a common language and large industrial buildings are going up, including terribly large Chinese hotels that made the distinction between the rural and urban communities even more drastic.
Chimwemwe, Venetia, Clancy and AndrewWe stayed at a sweet homey lodge with several other NGO employees and foreign government workers. One of the women, an American named Sarah, works for the CDC and is also a marathon runner. Somehow, she convinced me to run with her at 5:45am one morning. I did have a half marathon with Team EMC coming up back home, so decided to join her and run alongside the foreign ambassadors’ homes.
Chim and Venetia interviewing Anastasia, who traveled over 3 hours to wait to deliver at Chakhaza
I miss Malawi. I had a great time working with Chim and Andrew, and spending time with Seda and the women at Chakhaza Health Center. Seda’s dedication and commitment to working in an environment with extremely limited resources is beyond admirable. It is a difficult experience to see women going through pain and offer little to the immediate situation except gain their trust and explain that we are hoping to share their experience with the rest of the world. At the end of the day, the woman at Chakhaza never hesitated to tell us when to leave them alone, which of course we respected. Later, they’d invite us to celebrate the birth of their new daughter or son or grandchild. After the installment of the We Care solar suitcase, they also celebrated knowing that in the future they would be able to deliver in a safer environment with electricity.
Final Beyoncé dance party with Joe and Gracey outside the clinicCheck back next week as we share Clancy’s film about the day the lights came on in Seda’s clinic.
