A village birth attendant from a remote village in Menyamya district, Morobe Province, made a grueling trip to Lae, seeking help for her local women.
Tinola Manas, from Poiyu village, said village birth attendants use plastics, bamboos and bush ropes to deliver babies.
Manas has been a village birth attendant for over a decade, serving the women of Poiyu village in the Nanima-Kariba LLG of Menyamya.
Basic services are non-existent in her village, while their aid post is only a building with nothing inside.
“Hevi blo ol mama, mi sa lukim disla olsem, taim blo ol lo karim, nogat wanpla gutpla haus sik,” she shared. (There are no hospitals for mothers to give birth.)
“Ol sa karim lo toilet, ol sa karim lo bus, ol sa karim aninit lo haus blo mi, nogat gutpla bed. (They deliver their babies in toilets, in the bush or under my house with no proper beds.)
“Blo mipla ol VBA tu lo wok em nogat han glav, nogut su tu lo mipla werim. (For us VBAs, we have no gloves or shoes.)
“Mipla sa suim plestik nabaut na mipla sa wok lo ol mama. (We cover our hands with plastic and help pregnant mothers.)
“Bebi sa kam lo han, bebi sa kam lo lek, nogat kar lo helpim. Blad blo ol mama tu sa go aut, mipla had lo helpim ol. Mipla wok lo go kisim ol tasol ol sa dai namel lo rot.” (With breech births or limb presentations, we have no vehicle to assist them. The mother bleeds out while we watch helplessly. We can try to transport them to the hospital but they die along the way.)
Manas said pregnant mothers sometimes get swept away when crossing the river to reach VBAs, and the same happens to VBAs who cross rivers to assist mothers in labour.
“Wara sa kisim baket blo mipla go, tuls weh mipla la helpim ol mama ya, em sa karim i go.” (The river sweeps our buckets away, or the equipment that we bring along.)
Tired of being neglected, she came to Lae seeking assistance.
Morobe’s Division for Community Development helped Manas by writing a letter to the Good Samaritan Foundation, a charity branch of No.1 Hire Car, to assist with birthing kits.
On Wednesday, the 3rd of November, the company’s operations manager, Luke Bere, presented birthing and cleaning equipment to Manag, who was also recently appointed to represent women at Aseki.
Manas gratefully received the donation with Poiyu ward eight councilor, Jacks Mena. Items given included buckets, mats to use as birthing beds, scissors, gauze, clamps, sanitiser, aprons and gloves.
Manas prays to see the day when VBAs no longer have to struggle alone to help pregnant mothers in remote PNG.
(Poiyu village birth attendant, Tinola Manas, tearfully sharing about the hardships faced by women in Menyamya district)