Daughter of Sierra Leone. That’s what Aminata Conteh-Biger is known by friends in Australia. It’s the name of her former homeland in West Africa from where she fled to Australia as a refugee almost 20 years ago.
And she’s a woman in a hurry to contribute something practical and positive to lift the health standards of women, especially pregnant ones and nursing mothers.
It’s International Women’s Day as I write this story. While many women are attending uplifting events to mark the day, Aminata is at an open-air market in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs soliciting funds for her charity organisation that helps pregnant women in Sierra Leone.
Aminata in conversation with SBS Dateline Source: SBS Dateline
I asked her what her top wish was on this women’s day.
“Quite simple”, she replied. “That every woman will experience the joy of having a new baby in a safe and healthy environment”.
Her organisation, The Aminata Maternal Foundation, is devoted to helping pregnant women deliver their babies safely.
Sierra Leone, according to UNICEF, is the worst place in the world to give birth.
Challenges in Sierra Leone Source: SBS Dateline
One in eight women die during pregnancy or child birth, compared to one in 76 average in the rest of the developing world and one in 8,000 in the developed world.
“When I heard this sobering statistics, I was so affected by it all. I began collecting information and googling everything about maternal health. I then decided to do whatever I could to lift my country out of this condition”, Aminata said.
It quickly dawned on her how lucky she was, living in Australia where everything was so rosy.
Women in Sierra Leone who go through child birth are 200 times more likely to die than those in Australia.
“When I had my first child, Sarafina, at Sydney’s St George Hospital, I had seven doctors and specialists around the labour bed to ensure everything went smoothly”, she recalled.
It’s the complete opposite in Sierra Leone where two million women are estimated to be affected by fistula – a medical condition usually caused by prolonged labour, leaving women incontinent.
A new life in Australia Source: SBS Dateline
“It deprives women of their self-worth, and when I met a sufferer was really the first time of me knowing what losing your dignity meant”, Aminata said.
When she visited Sierra Leone recently, she was however not surprised to meet happy, smiling faces in spite of the seemingly insurmountable problems they encounter in their day-to-day lives.
“I believe the world does not give enough credit to Sierra Leoneans. They’ve gone through years of civil war, they’ve gone through the Ebola epidemic, and women are dying in child birth, yet they’re among the happiest and most resilient people you ever meet”.
Giving birth in Sierra Leone Source: SBS Dateline
- Watch the story on SBS Dateline's website
- For more information: www.aminatamaternalfoundation.org