NOMINATE ESTHER MADUDU A UGANDAN MID-WIFE FOR THE 2015 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. THIS IS HER STORY.

I got to hear about Esther at AMREF Uganda where I'm currently doing an internship. She is a passionate mid-wife whose work and contribution has had a huge impact on the women of Katine, a village where she lives. This is her story, i hope it inspires you to click on this link www.standupforafricanmothers.org and nominate her for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize. We so far have 9180 signatures.

Esther Madudu - an AMREF-trained midwife who works at the Atirir health center in Katine, Uganda attends to three or four deliveries each day. She calls them blessings.

Midwife Esther Madudu "There are days I have to run long distances to meet mothers who cannot make it to the health center, only to find they have already delivered. Once I found a woman giving birth next to a swamp because she couldn't walk any further. The baby's head was out and because she was so close to the water, she almost drowned the baby. It was a terrifying sight and no woman should ever have to go through that."

Although she lives with her family at the Atirir health center staff quarters, Esther has to spend more than 13 hours every day at the health center. "I am always here Monday to Monday, only getting a day off occasionally. Deliveries are unexpected and I have to rush whenever and wherever I am needed."

Madudu and her fellow midwives regularly have to help mothers deliver using the light cast by mobile phones, held in their mouths to ensure the beams are directed where needed.

The electricity supply to the health center was cut by the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group led by Joseph Kony during an attack on Katine eight years ago; it has yet to be restored. And the solar panels on the roof are broken. The center does at least have running water, and a borehole if that fails.

The mobile phones will probably be needed again tonight. Jennifer Akajo is in one of the beds in the labour ward, and Madudu – guided by a chart hanging on the wall next to her, which estimates delivery time against dilation – predicts she's still got some way to go. Akajo looks tired and nervous, but says little. Madudu gently rubs her back; it's the only form of pain relief the centre can offer, she says.

Madudu, 31, has been a midwife for 11 years and is clearly passionate about her work. "I grew up wanting to be a midwife," she says. "I love talking about the mothers I help deliver. We deliver 45 to 50 mothers every month, so I save 45 to 50 mothers and babies a month." In the four years since she's been at Tiriri, no mother has died in childbirth.
Esther sees clients every half hour for the entire day, only being interrupted by patients who have gone into labor. During her brief breaks, Esther rushes to the staff quarters to feed her baby. "Our work can be very challenging. We are too few to cope with the demand. A health center such as this should have at least six midwives. Yet there are only three of us interchanging between day and night shifts."

This is a story of a great woman with a huge heart giving back to her community. Uganda needs your support please click on this link www.standupforafricanmothers.org to nominate her for the 2015 Nobel Peace prize and also any other assistance you can to the "Stand Up for African Mothers Campaign" started by AMREF. Women can make a difference, we are the mothers of the Planet, the earth is our child.