By Kate Hyde | Operations Director
As we celebrate #10YearsofImpact and Mother's Day 2018 we decided to follow up on moms who have given birth at the Shanti Uganda Birth House, both recently and not-so-recently, to see how both mama and babe are doing. We hope you will enjoy the story of Rose and Derrick we gathered for Mother's Day this year...
We were so excited and grateful when a young mother named Rose came into the Shanti Birth House for an antenatal visit this April. When we spoke to her we found out that Derrick, her only child, was born at the Shanti Birth House 7 years ago - just one year after our doors opened - in March 2011.
She recalled how different the Birth House looked back then; the garden wasn’t ready, the land was unfinished, and there was no fence around the property. Kato was there though, our Head Gardener today, and she remembers him well with a smile.
Rose was just 17 when she gave birth to Derrick. She was referred to Shanti as the facility of choice in Kasana from her step-mother, Agnes. Agnes had heard of the Birth House and care model so early on because she was part of Shanti Uganda’s ‘Women’s Income Generating Group’, which was the very origin of Shanti in 2008.
Rose arrived at the Birth House with her mother at 6pm, and gave birth to Derrick soon after at 7pm. She shared that “after birth, they gave me blankets, clothes, everything I needed. The midwife was amazing and helped me with all the things I didn’t know, all the things my mom didn’t know. She was very nice and warm. She prepared us in every way.” After giving birth, Rose and her newborn son went home to live with her mother, step-father, and younger siblings.
7 years later in 2018, Rose is married and lives in a home with her husband, Geoffrey, and Derrick. She is four months pregnant with her second child, and has chosen to come back to Shanti Uganda for her antenatal visits, birth, and postnatal visits. She shared that she was certain she wanted to come back to Shanti after her first experience; she loves the environment and the love and care that is provided. She is also excited to try prenatal yoga classes, since they weren’t yet being offered during her first pregnancy in 2010. While Rose’s mother is still very much a part of her and Derrick’s lives, Geoffrey and her sister will be the ones coming to attend the birth this time.
“I wish the rest of the mothers in the world a beautiful day. And I urge them to love their children in the best way they can.”
Thank you for supporting moms like Rose!
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