A midwife from Mayotte told the story of a birth that occurred the night after Cyclone Chido hit the islands. As she recalled, to reach the woman in labor, she had to climb and crawl through broken trees. There is no water or electricity in the area devastated by the element, which makes the work of maternity clinics difficult.
On Saturday, Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte, a French dependent territory in the Indian Ocean. Winds with a speed of 225 kilometers per hour wiped out entire settlements, inhabited mainly by poor emigrants. Authorities have confirmed the death of 35 people so far, but fear there may be many more victims.
On Sunday storm reached the southeastern coast of Africa, where it caused further damage. At least 73 people died in Mozambique and 13 in Malawi.
Childbirth in the heart of the storm
During the night, as the cyclone passed over Mayotte, a midwife from a clinic in the town of Kahani received information about a birth that had started in a nearby village. The woman immediately rushed to help the woman in labor, even though the streets were blocked.
“We set off, climbing over broken trees, crawling under other trees, running through the forest,” she told Reuters.
When the midwife arrived home, it turned out that the labor had already ended and a healthy boy was born. His mother decided to name him Chido. The midwife checked the baby and mother and stayed with them for a while to make sure everything was OK.
Terrible conditions
High population growth and immigration have turned Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory, into the country's fastest-growing department. The main hospital in the territory's capital, Mamoudzou, houses the busiest maternity ward in France, and a baby is born there every hour. Many women living in Mayotte illegally, fearing deportation, choose to give birth in the slums that were razed to the ground by the storm.
Within five days of the cyclone's impact, 18 babies were born at Kahani Medical Center. Births are delivered in very difficult conditions – there has been no access to water for many days. Electricity was provided by two small generators, sufficient to power only the necessary equipment, mainly incubators for premature babies – medicines and blood test tubes had to be stored in special boxes.
– All deliveries took place by headlamp light because we had no electricity in the flooded delivery rooms – added the midwife from Kahani.
Main photo source: Reuters