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Lweendo “Lulu” Siamaambo, a freshman nursing major at John Brown University, is driven to improve health care in her home country, Zambia.
Siamaambo says that, as a nurse in her country, she wants to work with infants and pregnant women because of their high mortality rates.
According to 2014 data from the CIA World Factbook, Zambia has the 17th highest infant mortality rate in the world, with an estimated 66.62 deaths per 1,000 live births per year of infants under the age of one. In comparison, the U.S. has an estimated 6.17 deaths per 1,000 live births, about 10 times less than in Zambia.
As for mothers, Zambia ranks 26 out of 184 countries in maternal mortality rate, according to 2010 CIA World Factbook data. It is estimated that 440 Zambian women die due to pregnancy out of every 100,000 live births. This mortality rate is about 21 times higher in Zambia than in the U.S.
Siamaambo said that high mortality rates are connected to poor health care in her country. She explained that, in a hospital, there might be only one doctor, who could see up to 100 patients per day. Being understaffed, nurses may do the doctor’s job, even if they’re not qualified.
Accessibility is an issue as well.
“Some people walk more than 10 days to come to a hospital,” Siamaambo said.
Siamaambo said some women go their entire pregnancies without seeing a doctor, either because they can’t afford to go to the hospital or are afraid of lack of privacy and physical abuse.
“The nurses in Zambia have a reputation of being mean,” Siamaambo said.
Besides poor medical care, pregnant women may face malnutrition, unclean drinking water, or HIV/AIDS.
Siamaambo said that, in her country, “being pregnant is pretty much a death sentence.”
When pregnant women die, any surviving children may be orphaned. According to 2013 data from UNICEF, Zambia has an estimated 1.4 million orphans, of which about 600,000 are orphaned due to AIDS.
Over Christmas break, Siamaambo, her husband and five children traveled to Zambia to visit family. There Siamaambo helped care for children at her mother’s orphanage called Haven.
Siamaambo’s mother, Cecilia Siafwiyo Kalulu, started Haven when she came across a burial where a live child was being buried with his mother. Siamaambo explained that, in Zambia, it is customary to bury a newborn with its mother, since the child has almost no chance of living without her.
Kalulu commanded that the baby be taken out of the burial hole and began to care for him. After that, people started bringing infants to her door, and an orphanage was founded in her home.
Siamaambo said she gets her passion to make a difference from her mother. Besides becoming a nurse and working to improve the health care system from the inside, Siamaambo hopes to raise awareness by making a documentary.
Siamaambo, her husband, Andrew Kumalo, and Kumalo’s older brother, Jason Kumalo, are working together on this plan. Andrew Kumalo said the documentary will bring attention to Zambia’s high infant mortality rate while also showing how the people of Haven orphanage are saving lives.
“It’s one of those things that, if you’re not in it, a lot of people just don’t care,” Andrew Kumalo said of Zambia’s infant mortality rate.
Kumalo also hopes to use the documentary to promote Haven and show donors how their money is helping.
Kumalo said the finished documentary is still several years away. Documentaries can take up to a year or two to shoot, and this documentary is still in the planning stage, he said. However, it is in progress.
Kumalo arrived in Zambia on Wednesday, April 15 and plans to be back in the states Saturday, May 2. He said his goals for this trip are to see family and begin working out the logistics for filming.
“My next thing, when I go home, is where we can start and what permissions we need,” Kumalo said.
Credit -http://advocate.jbu.edu/?q=node/1567
Aliya Kuykendall / Photography by Chance Easter
Lweendo stop telling lies where in Zambia do they bury live children, if you want to beg for money to help your mother’s orphanage do that but don’t you dare your country’s name,just because of money you can stand so low.you a disgrace to mother zambia
What a liar you are. Please present facts to back up your stories, coz yes they are stories! Are u really that desperate for money? And who in Zambia do u think will want to work with you after this story? Madam, please stick to facts, do not exaggerate issues just to get attention. Yes, we lack certain amenities and need better service but not to that point. How come you are alive if the situation is that deteriorated? Just do your thing truthfully, GOD is seeing you and your selfish heart
Nakuba niba Lweendo. Tabakafike. Kuwayawayafye
The distance that scares me is between you and reality. You are taking Kalomo and calling it Zambia. Your story may have some truth to it, but gets twisted when you say “babies are buried alive.” it turns bogus and hard to sell not even to fellow Zambians. Thank God your brother is a live and adult now over 23 years old, stop using him as a sympathy card. We all have stories to tell, though we don’t seek sympathy to get funding.
You are a freshman and yes, you have a lot to learn on how to write YOUR story. You lose the message and reader by generalizations and exaggerations; granted the health care system is far from being acceptable. Its un- ethical to tell lies to suit your needs especially in a profession you are trying to pursue. Next time you feel like telling lies, block people that know you atleast. People know Haven was not founded by your mother. So if you are not forthcoming with simple truths, which part of YOUR story is true? mmmh…
If I were you my sister highlight hunger and malnutrition not the lies you are telling about our country. I spend my time working with rural . I take the donars to site so that the need is seen through there eyes and not mine and help where they see the need . Please take my advise and don’t use blatant lies or sugar coat your story to get aid. Sober up sis
My dear, no one from Zambia is believing your story other than the people you are conning. Why can’t you just do it in an honest way. No where in zambia are babies buried with a dead mother. Please stop it!!
If you want to continue soliciting funds from donors for the orphanage please do so by all means without calling something that may have, or may not have happened and blanket it as ‘customary’. Whose custom? What happens to the baby meantime before burial? Is it starved because it, after all, will be buried alive with the mother? Where is the evidence?
We have a lot of examples of people (children/orphans) that have been brought up by extended family (my own mother included) where the mother died during childbirth, or immediately after, and these people have done it without gaining any mileage out of it! Contrary to your assertions, this is the norm, and not what you want to call ‘customary’. It is normal to grow up with orphaned cousins, or distant relatives in households who are treated no less than biological children by their adoptive parents following the death of a biological parent. Please find another value proposition to appeal to donors for funds without making us all out to be barbaric by your self coined custom.
Yours is a classic case of “mwana ni ndombyo” loosely translated: use a child/baby to beg (for food), so you as a an adult can also derive a benefit (eat)! It is well worth noting that you’re doing a good deed in taking care of these orphans, but just do not take away from a noble cause by portraying, and perpetuating a one off instance (if it indeed did happen) as a custom to appeal emotionally to potential donors (your customers). Your motivation is brought to question.
If you want to continue soliciting funds from donors for the orphanage please do so by all means without calling something that may have, or may not have happened and blanket it as ‘customary’. Whose custom? What happens to the baby meantime before burial? Is it starved because it, after all, will be buried alive? Where is the evidence?
We have a lot of examples of people (children/orphans) that have been raised by extended family (my own mother included) where the mother died during childbirth, or immediately after, and these people have done so without gaining any mileage out of it! This is the norm, and not what you want to call ‘customary’. Contrary to your assertions, it is normal to grow up with orphaned cousins, or distant relatives in households who are treated no less than biological children by their adoptive parents following the death of a biological parent. Please find another value proposition to appeal to donors for funds without making us all out to be barbaric by your self coined custom.
Yours is a classic case of “mwana ni ndombyo” loosely translated: use a child/baby to beg (for food), so you as a an adult can also benefit (eat)! It is well worth noting that you’re doing a good deed in taking care of these orphans, but just do not take away from a noble cause by portraying, and perpetuating a one off instance (if it indeed did happen) as a custom to appeal emotionally to potential donors (your customers). It puts your motivation into question.
Hello, if you want to crook some donors for your mum’s orphanage please do it without tarnishing the image of your country. I do understand that the situation cannot compare to the US but you have wrong data here. Burying the child with the dead mum?
Very well articulated,most Zambian nurses are a shame,I lost one twin son last year at labour,he drowned because the nurse was eating.