- Child birth is one of the most remarkable
and dramatic events the human body can undergo.
The strain on the muscles, organs, bones
among others is immense.
However, not everyone has a privilege of being able
to access the care that's needed.
Globally, maternal mortality
is the leading cause of death among women and girls
of reproductive age.
In fact, the US has the worst
infant and maternal mortality rate
of any high resource country
but a slow resource countries like Zambia
that women are hit the hardest.
In Zambia, pregnant women in rural areas
consistently deal with limited medical care
and as a result often have poor maternal outcomes.
This film draws us into the world of one of those mothers
as she courageously embarks on her journey
to successfully deliver her child.
This is "With Grace"
from National Geographic Explorer, Austin Meyer.
- [Grace] Amen.
- Though,
Can even take overnight sometimes
a day can pass or two.
After the night that I examined Grace
so I went home to catch up some rest.
(feet clattering)
Around 23 hours I heard a knock at my door.
Two women were knocking.
They said they brought a woman in labor.
So I thought maybe it was Grace until they explained no,
it's just another woman who's come for labor.
(men speaking in foreign language)
(feet clattering)
After examining, that's when
I saw that this is a serious case.
The fetal heart was less than 100.
The baby was in distress.
(slow music)
So I had to call the ambulance, though, due to
network failure, the lines wouldn't go through.
The head was delivered and the shoulders couldn't rotate.
when the baby came out, it couldn't cry.
When the baby aspirated meconium,
there was no suction machine.
There was only a penguin sucker
which wouldn't go deep and remove those secretions.
I had to ambubag the baby,
but without good effect, the baby died.
(dramatic music)
(birds chirping)
(people speaking in foreign language)
(water splashes)
(utensils clattering)
- 1984.
(feet clattering)
In a seven month.
- My name is Peter Hachiswenya.
I'm 55 years old now.
I'm a farmer.
I normally grow maize, groundnuts,
green beans and some tomato.
I'm married to Grace Chibilika
and I've stayed with my wife for now 16 years.
And I have four children with her.
The fifth is not yet born yes.
(laughing)
(girl chuckles)
- To my first wife I've got five children.
They were supposed to be eight,
but the three died at an early age of their ages.
The first born daughter was Memory.
She had malaria.
She died at the age of four years.
When I lost my second born,
I almost lost my life 'cause it thanked me a lot.
Friends came to advise me,
to those other friends that also lost their children.
"Why should you lose your life
just because of this what has happened to you?"
Then the third one, immediately she was delivered,
she only stayed maybe one hour 30 minutes
then the infant died.
To experience death at that age,
you see your friend playing with his baby, I only thought
"Why always on me when my friends
are keeping their children?"
But I never took up my life.
I don't lose my faith 'cause I know that death is there.
What I only did was to get more advises
on how to keep my children
and that's what I'm still doing now.
(slow music)
(woman speaks in foreign language)
- So please, I beg.
- Ah-ah.
- [Man] Labor?
- Plastic, number one.
Yeah, for Katoba clinic there
are about four professional staff
working for maybe attending to the population of 10,061.
The clinic officer midwife and a nurse.
The other one is an EHT.
(speaks in foreign language)
- In labor ward we need a lot of instruments.
We need a resuscitator
in case the baby is born with asphyxia
we resuscitate the baby.
We need a suction machine.
We need catheters to empty the woman's bladder
when they're in labor.
We need sterilization machine.
But for here at Katoba, we do not have those instruments.
This building it has solar lighting.
So in the rainy seasons
we have to use our phones for lighting.
We learn to improvise 'cause when there are no things,
at least you you try to think
instead of letting a woman to suffer.
- This clinic is just for normal deliveries.
Any complicated delivery just has to be referred.
- If the nurse notices that something has gone wrong
then the nurse will call the hospital
for an ambulance to go and pick the patient.
- Okay, can I just call the ambulance then?
Okay we go.
(speaks in foreign language)
(ambulance sirens wailing)
Right now, we're responding to a call
at Kanakantapa Rural Health Center,
which is about 10 kilometers away from the main hospital.
They're calling us for an antepartum hemorrhage.
(dramatic music)
Good morning my sister.
- How are you? - I'm okay, I think.
(dramatic music)
(mumbles)
And they have to come to a hospital
where there's facilities for theater,
and so then intervene by doing a cesarean section.
(upbeat music)
- So we have a big challenge
because we have 39 facilities
being serviced by one ambulance.
A population of close to 200,000 people.
And these facilities are not concentrated in one place.
To go in to Katoba, which is one of our farthest facilities,
it takes about one hour 30 minutes.
We have this huge challenge.
The nurse calls for an ambulance in facility X,
which is 50 kilometers away,
says, "This woman is bleeding."
And then we have another nurse
calling from another facility
says, "I have another one who has failed to deliver."
So now we are left with a dilemma
because you have to decide
where do you go to pick the patient?
(upbeat music)
(birds chirping)
(feet clattering)
(radio music playing)
- [Voicemail] The mobile subscriber you have
dialed has their phone switched off.
- Oh my God.
(knocks)
The Bruce.
(dog barking)
(mumbles)
(groans)
(prays in foreign language)
(Grace groans)
(
(girl laughs)
(laughs) - Okay.
I think if I have a daughter
who has completed school, maybe she goes up to college.
She might become a president.
She might become a minister.
She might become a doctor.
(Children speaking in foreign language)
(speaks in foreign language)
- [Interviewer] Do you plan to have more kids
after this one?
- No, I am not planning.
I think this will be the last kid.
- [Interviewer] Why do you think this is the last one?
- There are enough that I have us at now.
( laughs)
(laughs)
- Yeah.
(hopeful music)
- Yes.
(slow music)
(laughs)
- Watching this film
I think something that has brought me some memories.
Pamela is three ,seven months.
She is attending nursery school.
- A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H
(hopeful music)
(upbeat music)