Welcome to SI’s special SoroptiVoice blog series, bringing you
stories from Papua New Guinea, where this year’s President’s December
10th Appeal is taking place.  These stories paint a poignant picture of
what life is like for women in PNG, with a focus on pregnancy and
mothers.  There are many SI activities and materials for International
Human Rights Day & this year’s SI focus on women’s right to safe
motherhood, in particular access to skilled birth attendants.  Please
explore our website and social media sites to learn more and to find out
how you can take action too!

 

 

The Mothers of Lower Watut

Lower
Watut is a village on the Watut River in a gold mining area in the mountains of
Morobe Province.  Access to this area is
along the river by raft or canoe.  The
village has its own traditions and practices concerning many aspects of life,
and this is true of pregnancy and childbirth. 

When
a woman gets close to giving birth, her husband builds a canopy in their house
garden, an area away from the village. 
She goes to the garden with her mother, and the village birthing
attendant accompanies them.  The woman
gives birth and she stays with her mother under this canopy in the garden for 3
to 4 months.  Her mother stays to look
after her.

After
this time, she returns to the village but is still not allowed into her
house.  She must either live under her
house or next to the firewood house. 
There she stays for a further month. 
At the end of this month, she is thought to be clean so is allowed to go
into her house to take up normal life again. 
There is not a big ceremony when the mother returns to her house.  The women from the church simply arrive,
bathe and dress the baby and accompany her back into her home.

The
reason for a pregnant woman’s banishment from her home and the village at the
time she is to give birth is that she is considered to be unclean and a danger
to the men in the village. It is thought she would pollute the village and
bring illness to her husband and other males, especially if they were to have
any contact with her blood.

This
traditional birthing practice leaves the women and the babies very
vulnerable.  The baby is not checked by
trained personnel and many die from lack of knowledge of simple procedures that
would otherwise have saved their lives.   

If
there are complications with the delivery and the woman needs to be taken to a
medical centre, she has to undergo a rigorous journey to seek help.  First, she has to be taken to the river.  The men need to make a bush stretcher for
this part of the journey and men who are willing to risk possible contamination
from blood are selected to carry her down the bush tracks to the river.  The woman’s husband can’t be one of these as
the risk is seen to be too great. 

Once
at the river, a canoe has to be hired for the next part of the journey.  The swiftly flowing river takes them as far
as a track that will enable them to reach the main road.  Another long walk to the road follows this.  From there, transport to the nearest medical
centre needs to be hired. 

The
cost of such a journey is prohibitive for many families, so help is not sought
and is the reason why the maternal mortality figures in mountainous areas such
as this is so high.