Hello dear elder and mother !
It is a real pleasure that you have agreed to tell us a little about the intricacies of this disappearing profession.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express myself on this thousand-year-old and endangered activity.
Indeed, my name is Fadimata, I am 76 years old.
I was initiated into this profession of delivering babies by my late mother, may she rest in peace, who was also initiated by her mother, who was initiated by her mother, and so it has been for generations. So we have been carrying on this tradition from generation to generation for centuries. Alas, it is at my level that this long secular chain may be broken.
Nevertheless, my job is to be available to all women who are nearing the end of their pregnancies. I do prenatal consultations with the help of my varied professional experiences which I obtained from my period of initiation at the side of my dearest late mother, may she rest in peace. I have obtained from these long years of work and loyal service to women a solid knowledge of all the symptoms related to pregnancy as does a doctor specializing in a particular disease.
Is your service free of charge or do you charge a fee ?
Of course, all my services are free, as were those of my mother, as were those of her mother, and so on.
How do you examine your patients ?
First of all, I use visual acuity to detect all the symptoms visible to the eye, then I ask the patient to describe all her sensations, her pains etc.
Finally, when all this is done, I draw a conclusion about the disease and the possible care to be given.
Do you go to the patients or do they come themselves?
It depends on the seriousness of the situation, I can go when it is very necessary, otherwise the patients go, but in recent years, given my advanced age, I am no longer able to go.
Did you ever have any difficulties or complications after giving birth ?
Of course I did, according to a popular saying in our country: every pregnant woman has one foot in the grave and another in this world.
I remember one time when I was called to the bedside of a young girl to help her give birth, I will not tell you how this young girl suffered because of the condition of the breech of the baby, thanks to Allah, the courage of the young mother, we managed to save the young mother but not her daughter. This means that complications are inherent in this critical phase of a woman’s life. But I thank Allah for never abandoning me in my prayers and that I make every time I have to deliver a woman. I ask Allah to make it easier and to save the life of both the baby and the mother. I was singularly touched by this tragedy which I witnessed helplessly. But as we say in our country : on the day of death there is no life and on the day of life there is no death. And so, this little angel in her prime has gone.
With the creation of health posts and the training of more and more midwives, you still manage to be solicited for these delivery services ?
I keep asking pregnant women to be consulted by modern doctors, and on the day of delivery to go to the health centre to give birth. But there are some who insist on using my services against my will. They often justify their decisions by the lack of confidence in modern medicine. It is also justified by the fact that we are not fully in the age of modernity.
Do you really believe that this medicine and this science that you have inherited from your mother, from your grandmothers is about to disappear forever?
Well yes, it will disappear not because of the absence of patients who will request these services, but because of the absence of a succession, I am old and on the verge of death, and none of my daughters want to take an interest in this profession for the perpetuation of the tradition. So of course it will inevitably fade away.
