Mama Aisha (not her real name), the first wife in a polygamous marriage, goes to the garden every morning from 6:00am until 11:00am, when she comes home to prepare lunch. In the afternoon she goes to a tailoring class and mid-week she finds time to go to the village bank. In the evenings Mama Aisha is either back to the garden or at the river washing clothes. She takes care of 16 people including her children, relatives and visitors who sometimes stay overnight or for weeks.
She is just one of many mothers that I call “drivers” of their families.
In Budaghali, Eastern Uganda where I work, the responsibilities mothers must attend to, from morning to dusk, is equivalent to a demanding full time job. In the mornings they will go to the gardens, engage in businesses like village banking, selling rice, tailoring, mothers saving groups and in the evenings they will be involved in the selling of food roadside, planting maize, preparing food for their families, and creating clean homes. The fact is that these mothers ensure food security, literacy and eventually the employment of their children. Thus they are a big determinant of their dependents health.
The WHO defines social determinants of health as the conditions in which people grow, live and age. Mothers have a huge influence on the conditions of their children’s growing up. Most of the social effects of early childhood development affect the economic status of the children. Low socioeconomic status due to limited education and illiteracy will determine the children’s early inclusion in the professional world, decision-making and the their future prospects.
Mothers will go the extra mile to nurture everyone in their homes. There is no such a thing as a typical “Musoga” family, or nuclear family. Families are blessed to have a close knit community that extends beyond blood relatives to rely on for support and compassion. Conditions in which children are nurtured on a daily basis, at least in part, shapes who they become. In the long-term this affects their health, and more specifically their life expectancy. Children’s confidence level, self-esteem, negotiation skills,and ability to build a professional network all starts in the home. Therefore, it is important that if there is an opportunity to help children live lives that are less shaped by difficulties then the investment should be in the mothers! Because every coin that is invested in the mothers pays back fully in their families and that is the picture I see every time I interact with the mothers in Budahagali village.
Therefore, women’s long days working for their family’s betterment can help inform programming for NGOs and policy makers in health. This year my co-fellow and I are charged with tackling one of the greatest problems in the community where we currently live: to help mothers give birth in places that are dignified. Most of the mothers in Budhagali give birth at traditional birthing centers because there is limited access to hospitals. The mothers may not realize the limited access to antenatal care available, may put the child at risk for health complications later in life.
I hereby salute the mothers in Budaghali, mothers in Uganda and mothers at large for their unwavering nurturing of the community that they all go through, and invite all stakeholders in making the mothers “breathe better” to support them in nurturing better healthier communities.