Last night, November 11, a handful of Equip volunteers, staff, and I were driving on our way to Ganta. We had been traveling all day, it was late, almost nine, and we were road weary. Suddenly I found myself taking a sharp, unexpected turn to the right, onto the rutted dirt track to our Equip Flumpa clinic. I wasn’t planning to visit the clinic at all, but having followed the unexpected urge to turn down the track, I thought I’d drive over there just to check the state of some rusting roofing sheets that I had heard needed to be changed. Surprised to see light streaming out through the windows and piercing the darkness outside, we went in to investigate. The clinic’s only patient was Oretha Daygon, a 23 year old lady from the village of Wheintin, who was just going into labor with her fourth child. Sarah, Equip’s American nurse supervisor, jumped in to help Nurse Aid Saye Klesa and OIC Patience Julu with the delivery. At 9:05pm, Oretha gave birth to a baby boy. He was born lifeless, and remained blue for a dangerously long time, despite persistent emergency suction and artificial respiration being given. Had Oretha's baby been born in the dark traditional midwife hut at her village of Wheintin, like her other 3 children, he never would have survived. After many tense minutes, the baby’s crying started to fill the clinic, signaling that he had finally started breathing and was not going to remain lifeless. The family and community members who were waiting outside burst into the clinic with song, dance, and shouting, filled with the infectious joy of new life.
The rescue of this handsome baby boy was only made possible by the recently installed solar power lighting, thanks to funding from USAID. These lights have brought about a great increase in night time emergency care and deliveries being given at the clinics, which has resulted in many lives being saved. Thankfully we have just been able to install these lights in all of our clinics. Praise God for the miracle of new life!
