It was late at night, and it had been raining. They couldn’t get to the hospital. I was called to help a woman in labour. The woman had a difficult birth. With my help, the baby was born but its leg was twisted the wrong way. After cleaning the baby and protecting its leg, I told the mother to go to the hospital in the morning. I was afraid that the baby would be disabled. When they arrived at the hospital the next day and the doctor removed my bandage, he found that the leg was able to move as normal. The mother was very happy.

I live in Khangkhao Village. I am a traditional birth attendant. In the past, in our community many people were poor so they could not afford to go to the hospital. My husband had some experience in deliveries and I often I accompanied him when he assisted women to give birth. After a while, villagers saw that I was unafraid to treat wounds. So, when local officials came to our Hmong community to look for volunteers for a training to assist pregnant women, the villagers nominated me to attend.

From morning to afternoon, villagers from my community go to their farms. Often, pregnant women are overworked and get sick. Some days, so many women come to see me that I have no time for dinner. Since I began to work as a birth attendant in my community, I’ve been able to educate Hmong women to understand the importance of antenatal care and delivering at the hospital unless it’s an emergency. Now they know that a hospital delivery is safer for the mom and baby.

Still, some women can’t go for antenatal care or hospital delivery because they don’t have enough money or access to transportation. Another difficulty that they have is limitations with the Lao language. They can’t understand the doctor, and vice versa. So, I often accompany those who do not know what to do at the hospital. I speak with the doctor and I help to fill out forms.

What makes me most happy about being a birth attendant is seeing a healthy mother and child. I am getting old and we need young volunteers to study and replace me in the future. We need to have someone to look after our community.