Women’s
health ~ Women’s empowerment
3rd
generation of women fighting for other women
I am a
missionary kid who spent part of her life in East Africa. I was aware of
mothers losing their lives, or infants dying as pregnant women walked or were
carried to hospitals so they could deliver.
My
Nigerian name is Amalachukwu which means God’s grace, during my delivery I came
out feet first making for a complicated delivery. I however, was blessed to be born at the right place, at the right time in a
missionary hospital with skilled health care professionals.
I
could...
- Have easily been the infant that died at childbirth.
- Have been the child that did not make it to age 5 due to malnutrition, dysentery, cholera or malaria.
- Have been the pre-teen/teen girl, missing school during my period because of lack of access to feminine products.
- Have been that young lady forced into prostitution to support my family or raped and violated based on my gender.
- Have been the mother separated from her child during refugee camp displacement and subject to gender based violence.
- Have been the woman, giving birth to a son or daughter, with spina bifida because of lack of prenatal care.
- Have been the woman dying of breast or cervical cancer because of lack of health care access and prevention services.
- Be the woman today with no FREEDOM, no VOICE, no SAY, as to how many children I have or if I could get an education.
- Be a member of the community, with no clean water, no food to eat, affected by drought for years.
BUT by
some chance I WAS not, and I AM not...
BUT my
heart feels the plight,
my eyes see the tears and pain,
my ears hear the cries,
and my mind imagines the suffering.
I am taking action to do something, and
make a difference. I am changing one life at a time and ensuring that everyone
has access to the most precious commodity, and human right of all….HEALTH. Empowered
people = Healthy people.
I choose to live to be the health advocate, abolitionist for HIM, for HER, for
THEM because it could have so easily been me…hoping and praying that someone
out there will take the time and choose to be an advocate to save me so that I
can live my life to its full potential.
© 2013
Ndinda Ngewa
