Mana Maya* went into labor just before dawn in a small Nepali mountain village in the Himalayas. Alone at home with her mother-in-law and three small children, Mana Maya gave birth to a baby girl before complications set in. Her husband, a migrant worker, was not there when she began to bleed heavily. It was …
When my sister-in-law Angelina was six months pregnant, she went to a health facility for a routine antenatal care visit. This was not an easy thing to do, however. She lives in rural Kenya and in order to reach the facility situated 15 kilometres away, she sold her pig. With this money she was able …
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE – I was a young medical officer working at the Emergency Unit of the Ola During Children’s Hospital in Sierra Leone when I advised the mother of a child with severe malaria to tell a blatant lie. Her daughter Mariama needed a life-saving blood transfusion. But her mother had no money to …
I recently spoke with Lego Foundation CEO Hanne Rasmussen about how schools must do more to build soft skills and allow for playtime as well as focus on numerical and literacy skills. As a busy working mum herself, she personally sees the value in schools incorporating play in the learning process for her 13-year-old son. …
“As a young boy growing up in rural Uganda in the late 80s, quality education was not a guarantee. Attending school meant a daily 14km walk, only to be met by a lack of books and classes of up to 100students per teacher. “To complicate matters further, I had lost my immediate family to HIV/Aids and …