By Maureen Sheyin.
19-year-old Alice Monday gave birth to her first child one Tuesday afternoon in October, when she visited the toilet, thinking it was the usual running stomach she was experiencing, little did Alice know that she was in labour.
Giving out young girls into marriage at the age of 18 and 19 is common in the community and surrounding villages.
Banono community is located in Kufana district of Kajuru Local Government area of Kaduna. It is 20 kilometres from the local government headquarters and approximately 60 kilometres from Kaduna town.
The community has a population of about 3000 inhabitants, 60 percent of which are women of reproductive age.
At her age, Alice had no idea of processes a woman passes through while giving birth.
She never visited a health facility for antenatal care, because none is existed in her close to her village.
None of the women in the community counselled her on what to expect, or educated her on the stages and phases of pregnancy.
The situation Alice found herself in during the delivery process placed her in a state of trauma that took a while to disappear.
“My name is Alice Monday, I am 19 years old and this is my first child.I gave birth behind my house because the hospital is too far.I had stomach pains that is why.One of the problem we pregnant women face here is we do not have a hospital in this community and the nearest one is far.”
Her mother in-law said, she was away from the house attending to other issues when the children rushed and informed her that a new baby has arrived and had to rush back home.
Her husband Monday Ishaya was full of praises to God as he joyfully narrated their experiences.
The situation in Banono could also be compared to Ungwar Aku also in Kajuru Local Government. Both communities suffer similar fate with absence of all essential amenities.
Unlike banono, Unguwar Wahala a near by village of about 10km, who share a similar culture, the people of unguwar Wahala Had decided to make arrangement, where a midwife visits the community once a month to provide health talk to women in the community in some cases the health worker had even provided skill services in some deliveries.
The challenges faced by Banonno and adjoining communities are enormous; they have no health facility, no motorable road, no portable water (located 8 km away), no electricity, everything modern is missing in these communities.
Pregnancy is supposed to be a thing of joy, but the case is not same with Patrick Daniel who said whenever his wife is pregnant, he is always disturbed because of absence of health
facility in the community which deprived his wife the joy of attending antenatal.
He said when the pregnancy of his wife is eight months, she would start taking herbs so as to ensure safe delivery.
And whenever her condition was critical, she will be transported on a motorcycle to the nearest health facility which is 20 kilometres away in Kasuwan Magani.
“ We do not have hospital here in Banono Community.if the labour comes with complications we carry the woman on bike to the hospital in Kasuwan Magani.We would start given them herbs when the pregnancy is eight months and after delivering both the mother and the child are given herbs which helps the child in growing.Because of expenses and lack of transport,we don’t like going to the hospital which is as a result of lack of hospital in our community.Transport fare to the nearest hospital cost me and my wife 1200 naira”.
Most women are attended to by Traditional Birth Attendance (TBAs), who are not able to handle complications whenever the need arises.
A community member said they had lodged several complaints since year 2000, to the then Administration, but their demand is yet to be made.
A visit to the community reveals that the village lack basic amenities.
The Chairperson of Kajuru Local Government, Mrs Felicia Kyomson, said she is not aware of the existence of Banono village, but promised to visit there, to appreciate challenges faced by the people, with a view to helping them.
“My name is Mrs Felicia Khomson chairperson Kajuru Local Government Authority, Ofcourse we would visit the community to find know what there problems are.We would commenced capital projects in most of these remote places.”
In an interview, Director Primary Healthcare, Kaduna State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Iliyasu Neyu, also said he is not aware of the community.
He said, his agency will visit the community, adding that Government is working at all levels to comply with the world health organisation’s standard of providing health facility to citizens at every 5 kilometres radius of a community.
District Head of Kufana, Mr Titus Dauda, who took over leadership in June, promised to visit the area after rainy season to interact with the people for possible intervention.
Mr. Titus said the district has made available tricycle ambulance in every ward to help convey the sick to hospitals, but the tricycles could not access some of the communities due to difficulties of the terrain.
This story is with funding support from Devcoms Network, under its MacArthur Foundation Maternal Health Project
