May, 2010

I met Lightness in Tanzania about a year ago. She was sitting on the side of a road, just 16 years old and pregnant with her first child. Her mother, who had flagged us down for a ride to the clinic, estimated she was three weeks past her due date. When we arrived at the clinic, Lightness wept after being told by the nurses that she was too small to deliver her baby there, as they were ill-equipped to do anything more than refer her to the nearest hospital – an hour’s drive away. The next day, I found her at home, near where we had first met. I had gone to check on her and discovered Lightness and her mother had not yet followed the nurses’ advice of going to the hospital immediately. I offered them a lift. It turned out Lightness would need an emergency cesarean section to deliver her baby. An assistant medical officer performed the surgical procedure, pulling a baby girl out of her taut belly within an hour of our reaching the facility. Thankfully, Lightness and her baby survived. And they lived happily ever after … or will they?