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Midwife
in Blue Nile State |
By
Jaime Jacques, Communication and
Advocacy Officer - RRP, UNDP Sudan
“The first time I delivered
a baby I felt so nervous. I thought
can I or can’t I really do
this?” says 18-year old Nafiza
Abdallah as she sits outside her
home in the small fishing village
of Ofud in Blue Nile State.
“But then I thought about
my community and how I wanted to
make it better, so I just went ahead
and did it.”
This brave young woman has been
delivering babies ever since she
has completed a midwife training
provided by the Recovery and Rehabilitation
Programme (RRP); a community-based
initiative funded by the European
Commission and managed by the UNDP.
“I have delivered more than
12 babies since then,” she
says proudly, “at first with
the help of others and now on my
own”.
Nafiza is one of the 73 women who
recently completed an 18-month long
midwife training programme in Damazine.
The course, organized and funded
by the RRP, provided theoretical
and practical training for women,
bringing the total number of registered
midwives in Blue Nile State to 364.
“Before the course started
I didn’t have much to do.
I spent most of my time learning
to read, farming and harvesting.
When I heard about the midwife training
programme being offered by the consortium
I decided to go because I wanted
to help my friends and relatives
with their pregnancies,” says
Nafiza.
“I learned that I can time
exactly when the baby will be born;
and if they are going to have twins
I will know. I can hear two heartbeats
instead of one,” she added.
The course focused on other issues
besides delivering babies. The women
received literacy training, learned
about proper nutrition and attended
awareness sessions on issues such
as tribal scarring and female genital
mutilation. They can now act as
advocates against these harmful
practices when they return to their
respective villages.
This was the ninth midwife training
programme offered in Damazine. The
consortium expects to facilitate
more in the future. Nafiza encourages
other women in Blue Nile to attend
the course even if they feel apprehensive.
“At first it didn’t
really have a lot of meaning, I
just felt scared, but after a while
I saw how happy the mothers are;
and feel grateful that I am able
to save not only one life, but two.”
Funded by the European Commission
and managed by UNDP on behalf of
the Government of National Unity
and the Government of Southern Sudan,
the RRP is the largest recovery
initiative across Sudan. The initiative
is implemented through 44 national
and international NGOs who strive
to use community driven approaches
that focus on sustainable development
rather than relief.
