Charis Around the World

Childbirth in Kenya
by Jannekah Guya

Traditional Birth Attendants, Birth Attendants from YWAM Australia, Jannekah and her children

The past few weeks have been really wonderful on the childbirth front here in our part of Kenya.  First, I officially started my Charis midwifery academics course and I am already learning and growing so much.  My coach is so wonderful and I am just so blessed.  Then, we had very special, international visitors in our home recently.  Four lovely young ladies from Youth with a Mission’s Birth Attendant School in Perth, Australia came to stay with us for a couple days.  Two of them are from the Seattle area (near where I’m originally from), one from another part of the U.S., and one from Canada. Most of them had been serving in a Tanzanian hospital for 5 months and they came to Kenya to get visas for their next outreach in Bangladesh.  They also came to see the things my husband Martin and I are involved in here in Kenya.  During the days they were with us we were able to go into three slums, including the one I work in regularly.  We were able to do several prenatal and postnatal checks with expectant and newly delivered mothers.  We were also blessed to meet with a total of 9 traditional birth attendants to share hearts, stories, and safety techniques.  They were such a blessing to us and to so many Kenyan ladies.  I learned so much through their patient teaching and loving practices. With all my heart I believe God has much more in store for us to do together in Africa.  Interestingly, both the ladies from the Seattle area feel God is calling them to East Africa to equip nationals in health care and midwifery.  It’s very exciting and I can’t wait to see what He has in store!

Another exciting recent event was having the privilege of getting to participate in the birth of a big strong healthy baby boy!  It was quite an adventurous event from start to finish.  I got the call from Mama Christine, the traditional birth attendant, at 6 am.  A laboring mother had come to her house to have her baby.  I hurried out of bed and was ready to head out the door in no time, but when I went to open the front door it was locked and the key was nowhere to be found, which was very unusual since we always keep it in the same place, especially my husband Martin, who was the one who had locked the door before bed.  I had to go wake him up and we looked everywhere for the key for several minutes.  I finally found it, but no matter what we tried, the door would not unlock!  We tried for several more minutes, with no luck.  It was so strange that at that point I was convinced it was God protecting me from some danger I would encounter if I left then.  Finally, as if it had never had a problem at all, the door came open.  We’ve not had a problem with it since!

I hurried out into the drizzly morning and headed to the slum.  The birth attendant’s house is about a mile from the main road and since no vehicle can get through the slum when it’s rained because of the thick putrid mud, I had to walk in with my faithful rubber boots, keeping an eye out for the huge rats that have overrun the area.  I spent the time praying for the mother and baby and those of us who would be assisting her.  I also wondered who I might have met if the Lord had not ‘locked me’ in the house that morning.  I’ve been told that slum is the second most dangerous slum in Nairobi.

When I reached the house the mother was doing wonderfully.  She was in active labor with contractions about 3 minutes apart, lasting 30-45 seconds.  Shortly after my arrival we all had breakfast together in the tiny 5’ by 10’ space. There was Mama Christine, her daughter, her two granddaughters (ages 3 and 7), me, and of course, the laboring mother. Another expectant woman came over to see Mama Christine because she hadn’t felt her baby moving.  Mama Christine checked the baby’s heartbeat and determined everything was ok.

Things went on pretty uneventfully for several hours…except for when a cockroach fell off the ceiling into my lap and scared me half to death.(= The mother was coping with her labor beautifully. It was her first baby and even though she was a little nervous and unsure, she subconsciously knew what to do and Mama Christine gave her the freedom to do it. She didn’t like sitting or lying down at all and wanted to walk and stand and squat over the toilet (a hole in the ground). Those were all very helpful things to do of course!

By around 2:30 she was in transition and started to get really overwhelmed. She was saying things like, “I can’t”, “I’m dying”, “I’m leaving”, and “Please just reach in and take the baby out!” She kept asking me to give her medicine to make the pain go away and I told her there was no such medicine available. She begged me to help her and I told her I was praying for her and promised her that God would give her the strength and would bring her and her baby safely through. She became very dependant and needed emotional help and attention through each contraction as well as reassurance and encouragement in between.

At 4:30 she was fully dilated and started giving pushing a try. Though she wasn’t feeling an urge to push it was really helpful because it lifted her spirits to be doing something proactive and to know that the baby was that much closer to coming. Mama Christine allowed her to push in whatever position she wanted to be in. She still hated lying or sitting. Her favorite position was squatting, but when she was tired she tried side lying and reclining positions. At 5:15 her water broke with a loud pop during a push.

At around 6 pm the power went out, but the traditional birth attendant handled it all in stride. Thankfully it came back before the baby was born. By around that time though, the mommy was pretty tired and discouraged. She was starting to feel like the baby would never really come. The birth attendant’s daughter and her friend came in and sang worship songs and prayed over the mother. It calmed her down and gave her the encouragement she needed to continue. Sure enough, just about an hour later the baby was born. The mother was SO happy. She’d wanted a boy and God had given her a BIG strong boy. She named him immediately, even before the father arrived, which I’d never seen before. She was just so excited! She named him Wambua as soon as she saw him, which in their tribal language means “rain”.(= Even though the mother is not yet a Christian, before I left she looked at me wide eyed, cuddling her little miracle and said, “Jesus really did help me!” That’s what it’s all about!

New mama and baby Wambua

Our International Charis Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!