By Lee Koelzer | Director
Tina is the Librarian of our library at Peace Demo Farm. She has been with us for about a year, and two months ago she delivered a beautiful baby girl named Patients.
She had some complications with the delivery, so the doctors had to perform an emergency C-section. This would not have been a big deal- but upon getting released from the hospital she went to stay with her family in the village to recover. Against doctor's orders, her female relatives smeared her stomach with local herbs and tied her waist very tightly with a wrap. This is common place in the village after a normal birth- but as Tina has a cesarean, these actions resulted in a massive infection. A couple weeks after the birth, Tina was rushed back to the hospital where they opened her up again, scooped out all the infection they could, and sewed her back up with some massive doses of antibiotics.
After this, Tina did not want to go back to her village as he knew the things the older ladies had done were what caused the infection- but we are in a society where you always respect your elders and if they want to tie the waist and smear the herbs you let them. So we grudgingly let her come back to the farm early from the 2 months maternity leave we had granted her.
When she reached back, Betty (our farm worker) informed her that the village kids kept coming and asking when she'd be back to open the library. So Tina sent a couple neighbor kids out to spread the word that the library would again be open the next day.
A DAWN the kids showed up and started knocking on the side of the house for Tina to wake up and open the library for them. As Tina was still recovering- her work was very limited and she kept going to rest, but she was able to read a few stories a day to the kids. And even unsupervised, the kids were all sitting on the floor with books reading, making up stories, talking about the pictures, and being entertained for hours.
This amount of dedication on behalf of Tina is amazing. Instead of just being somewhere resting as she recovered from her surgeries, even with her 2 months paid maternity leave, she decided to come back and work in the library. Her dedication to the program and the children is amazing. Also, the enthusiasm of the children is heartwarming. This is the reason we have our libraries, and with the continued support of donors like you- our libraries will continue touching lives across Uganda.
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