I am a poor house wife and small scale farmer. I live at Mathoraneh Village, Kambia District. On Sunday June 18 a wonderful thing happen to our family; my 13-year-old daughter Adamsay Kamara, safely delivered a bouncing baby boy at the Mathoraneh Community Health Post, Kambia.

Kadiatu Kamara, Mother of a Child Mother, Matoraneh Village, Kambia District

It was a big day for us and wonderful, due to her age and the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Adamsay, a class five pupil who was impregnated by her peer, went into labour during the early morning hours of that fateful day. We rushed with her to the CHP only to meet a Maternal Child Health Aide Francess Hallowel, who had been posted to the post in less than 48 hours to replace her predecessor who was on maternity leave. Even though Francess was yet to settle down, she tried her level best with the assistance of traditional birth attendants. But the exercise became tedious for all of us including the patient, Adamsay who had almost given up. She could not “push” further, so we leaned our faith in God and started praying as we coaxed her not to give up.

Guess what! God answered our prayers. An MSF van arrived at the scene, and two senior nursing sisters and a State Registered Nursing pupil midwife who were monitoring activities of the micronutrient week, disembarked without prior knowledge of what was happening.

Upon a tip off, the Kambia District Health Sisters I and II, Angella Rogers and Christiana Sannoh respectively, with the SRN pupil midwife Fatmata Musa Kamara, put everything else aside and rushed into the labour room to give a helping hand to us. There and then Adamsay was assisted and she delivered 10 minutes later, leaving smiles beaming all over our faces.

We might have lost her, the baby or both of them had those people not come to our aid. It is a day that I will never forget. We shall always remain proud of those sisters. Praise is to Allah, the most gracious and merciful!