Visit to Penyem

We spent the last weekend of April in Penyem.  It was amazing to be back in the village.  Ebou's family hosted my friend Emma and me. They were as always, generous and easy hosts.  Between visits to the house and meetings with the women, we enjoyed their food, played with their children and even napped under a mango tree.

Emma playing with the kids

Amie's delicious fish benachin

Ebou and Fatou, all dressed up for the celebrations

Nima also travelled to Penyem for the weekend and it was such a joy to see her again!  On Saturday afternoon Ebou, Emma, Nima and I walked over to the birthing house to see it and meet with the grandmothers.  On the walk over, we stopped to visit some of the families with new babies born in the house.

Nima and I in her house

Walking to the birthing house

The outside of the house

I was so impressed with how great the birthing house looks!  It's incredibly clean and well maintained.  I also like the new little touches, such as the curtains.  Somehow it seemed even brighter and more cheerful than I remembered.  We had a meeting with the grandmothers and the traditional birth attendant to talk about how it's been working for them so far, and what else we can do to improve it.

The birthing room inside 

One of the youngest babies

 Ebou and I talking with the grandmothers

 Another one of the babies

Mothers, grandmothers and babies! 

Nima, Ebou, the grandmothers and I

After the grandmothers' meeting, we visited Kalilu, the alkalo (the village chief).  Late on Saturday night after a full day of malaria workshops, Bubacaar, the community health nurse, arrived on motorbike for a meeting about the house.  What a committed health worker he is.  As always, he had great ideas for how we can support the home and work with the Ministry of Health’s regional health team in Brikama.

Kalilu, Ebou and I

 Ebou and Bubacaar

Bubacaar and Emma

On Sunday, all of the women from the village gathered at the birthing house with their babies for a meeting about the house, and a celebration.  What an incredibly happy gathering!  Nima spoke, the traditional birth attendant spoke and then the floor was open for the women to say whatever they wanted to - to share their experiences and make suggestions about how to improve the house.

It was incredibly touching to hear from so many of the women what a positive difference the birthing house has made in their birthing experiences.  They are truly grateful for the support.  I reminded them also of how inspired donors have been by their stories, and that the house came to be because they had a vision for it. 

We also met lots of new babies, who are just gorgeous! 

Before, between and after the talking there was tons of dancing.  Emma and I were inevitably called on to show off our toubab (white person) dance moves.  They got a kick (ahem) out of it, as did we.  Note the laughing in the photos... :-)

On our way home afterwards, we visited Sere, the village health worker, and looked at the birth register together.  

So what are the next steps for the birthing house?  The support of many more generous donors in Canada – including Our Lady of Peace School, All Saints High School, Immaculata High School, St. Francis Xavier High School as well as countless individuals – has meant that we are able to do the following:

1.    Install solar lighting in the house

This was the women’s main suggestion to improve the house.  The original wall-mounted lights require frequent battery changes and don’t provide focused light for the deliveries.  They have tried another type of battery light and a headlamp and had similar problems. 

Ebou has already done the wiring for a light socket in each room of the house, and we are now in a position to buy a small solar panel and battery system to power it.  This news was met with a round of celebratory dancing!  Considering most deliveries have taken place at night, this will make a big difference.  

2.    Buy the traditional birth attendant a mobile phone

She used to have one but it broke and since then, women have been sending messengers to her on foot - usually children from their compound - when they are in labour to tell her to come.  A phone will make the process quicker and easier.  

3.    Stock the house with delivery and cleaning supplies

We also discussed stocking in bulk more of the delivery supplies in the house.  Unfortunately, there is no longer a steady supply of clean delivery kits coming through the Ministry of Health and so the women have been buying them as needed from the market in Brikama, one at a time either in advance or afterwards to replace what was in the house.  We are going to buy the delivery and cleaning supplies in bulk and stock them in the house.  

4.    Buy nice receiving blankets and clothes for the babies

Many of the women said that there is a need for small items like warm receiving blankets to wrap the newborns in, and new clothes for them to be taken home in.  In Penyem, like everywhere, there are some families with a lot of money relative to their community and others who need support for small items such as these that can make a big difference to their experience.  

5.    Support training for someone from the village to eventually take over deliveries in the house

This is really important for sustainability.  We have talked about different options for this over the last several years and all agree it’s important to identify someone to be trained up to assist and eventually take over deliveries in the house.  

Bubacaar (the community health nurse) had an excellent suggestion.  He suggested we look at sponsoring someone from Penyem to study nursing and midwifery through a diploma program at college, and said if we approach the Ministry of Health through the Regional Health Team in Brikama early on, we can ask whether they would be willing to create an employment post for the graduate based in Penyem and serving neighbouring communities as well.  This would be amazing as in the future the house could expand to offering antenatal programs for women from Penyem and the surrounding villages! 

Bubacaar said the idea would appeal to them because the Ministry typically pays the tuition fees for health workers and then bonds them in post for a certain period of time.  So if we can cover the fees, they may be willing to create a post, particularly in a region that is underserved. This is a very exciting possibility and we will start speaking with the Regional Health Team soon about it.  

6.    Provide an ongoing maintenance fund

The fund was used over the last two years for the maintenance that was done – spraying for termites, a new door, curtains, heightening the wall to keep animals out and cleaning supplies.  This fund can now be topped up so that future maintenance work can be done to keep the house in good shape for birthing!

7.    Other suggestions as they arise

Ebou is now visiting Penyem every weekend, and is a wonderful ongoing link with the women to discuss what needs to be done in the house. 

Our visit to the village was such a joyful one.  It was amazing to meet the babies – some of the 60 (!) born in the birthing house so far – and see the women again and talk through more plans for the house.  I’m already looking forward to the next visit, whenever it will be. 


In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing how our next steps come together.  There certainly is a lot of work involved on the ground, not only to source the solar lighting system, phone and supplies, but also to work with the community health nurse and Regional Health Team to look at our options for training someone from Penyem in nursing and midwifery.

Thank you once again so very much to each one of you who has generously supported the people of Penyem through this project. 

Here, in closing, is a thank you directly from Nima on behalf of the women of Penyem.  Turn your volume up and be patient as it takes a little while to load!  In their words: