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Hi, I'm Karen Elson, and we're here in Sierra Leone, in Pujehun. We're going to go to a
clinic where there's a midwife called Elsie, and we're going to talk to her about the newborn
initiative.
I'm really curious to see what you do at this wonderful clinic that you have here.
This clinic here serves around 3000 mothers and children. There are only 2 midwives here.
I'm wondering why she decided to come to this clinic.
She wants her life to be safe.
People are far away from us. 5 miles they walk to come and deliver here. But there are
no bikes, no motorcars to come with them.
We're here today on the Masan River, and on this side are the local villages, and on this
side is the local clinic. So you can imagine if you're pregnant, to get from point A to
point B, if you're in labour is quite difficult.
In the village of Saama I met Kula, whose story typifies the kinds of challenges mothers
face in remote rural areas.
If there was a clinic in this village, for instance, do you think that your baby perhaps
would still be alive?
She wants to come with us!
Listening to their stories, they're just survival stories. And we just take so much for granted.
And I can't believe what these women have had to go through. And again, these newborns
who have died, they are preventable deaths. And I think that's what really touches me
the most.
The last stop of my trip took me to the slums of the capital Freetown, where I met Margaret,
who re-trains traditional birth attendants to promote safe birthing practices.
We have a lot of pregnant women here. They come here every Friday. And as you can see,
the older women here are TBAs that have been transformed to newborn care. They work with
the pregnant women in the community. When it is time for them to deliver, they come
and deliver here. Save the Children give them this facility, and they are happy.
I'm nearing the end of my trip in Sierra Leone. And it's really been a profoundly life-changing
trip. Today it just clarified - being in the slums -- just why we're here. While the people
are just so incredible and spirited, and have welcomed us, you just see the other side of
life. I'm glad could witness it with my own eyes, and I'm going to go back home with a
whole new perception on the world, on the world! And on the plight of mothers, on the
plight of pregnant women, mothers and newborns. Because for a good majority of the world,
this is the reality.