Tenneh Bawoh rests her three-month-old baby Ansumana on her lap. She bounces him on her knee and he giggles happily.
Tenneh and her baby have come to a health clinic in Sierra Leone for a check-up. Both mum and baby are healthy.
But tragically, Tenneh has loved and lost a baby before.
The most dangerous day of her life
A few years ago, when Tenneh was pregnant with her first child, there was no health centre or trained nurse in her village.
For the two days of her labour, Tenneh was in agony. She fell unconscious, and was bleeding heavily.
When at last she woke up, her whole body was swollen. In the days and months afterwards, Tenneh still felt very weak. Tragically, her little one died when he was just three months old.
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‘I will never forget that day’ she recalls. ‘I felt sick like I’ve never been sick before. I loved my baby so much.’
It broke Tenneh’s heart to lose her baby, and she knows that she, too, nearly died giving birth. ‘If God would not have saved me, I would not be alive today,’ she told us.
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Your gifts can change lives
Thankfully, when Tenneh was pregnant a second time, things had changed for good.
Christian Aid’s partner RADA saw that Tenneh, and many mums like her, were in desperate need of healthcare. And that’s how nurse Judith came to save lives.
With expert love and care, nurse Judith delivered Tenneh’s baby safely. Thanks to nurse Judith, and the training you helped provide, Tenneh could hold her beautiful baby boy in her arms.
This Christian Aid Week (12-18 May), you could help build bigger, better health clinics. More mums like Tenneh can see their babies grow and enjoy fullness of life.
Nurse Judith says: ‘I know that for women here, thanks to Christian Aid, our situation is going to change.’