Tag Archives: bradfordschoolgirls

The story of four schoolgirls from Bradford who had an idea to combat maternal mortality overseas. This film shows their dream becoming a reality as they travel to Nigeria to meet women who risk their lives through pregnancy and childbirth, and make them a diaper cake. See how their ‘Pack for Mums and Babies’ will save lives

These four school friends wanted to help young mums in Africa – and had an idea which is now set to be a real life-saver as one of our World Gifts.
Find out more about their amazing story

As soon as we got out of the car in the village Ankpa, we were welcomed in the most delightful way, with people swarming out of the healthcare clinic to greet and show their appreciation for us. Everyone seemed so happy to see four young English girls in their village.

As we spent the day in the health clinic in Ankpa, we found out more about the young mothers and how they manage to look after themselves during pregnancy, as they don’t get a lot of help from their family to go through the emotional and physical help pregnant women need.

We asked the mothers what they feel they need most during pregnancy, and the most common answer was a napkin and baby clothes. The mothers told us they were very happy to be having the baby and how the clinic benefits and supports them.

This contrasted hugely with the most emotional experience of the trip. The next day we visited an outreach clinic in Ankpapa. As soon as we arrived, we saw the amount of poverty affecting the area.

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Even though I am half Nigerian I have only ever been to the city where things are much better than the places we visited. But visiting Ankpakpa and Ankpa to see where pregnant women and mothers have their check ups was hard.

At Ankpakpa, when we spoke to the mothers, some of them looked frightened to talk to us and we didn’t like how the men were crowding round us. We really just wanted to talk to them one on one but we were attracting so much attention everywhere we went.

Thankfully, it was different when we visited the clinic at Ankpa. We spoke to some mothers and they were all healthy. They were benefiting from the clinic being funded through our packs.

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We arrived a village called Ankpa and, as soon as I got out of the car, there seemed to be around about 40 women all coming at me hugging me, greeting me and saying welcome. Yes it was the best welcome I’ve ever had!

We were there to see a Mother and Child primary healthcare clinic. The women were amazing people and so appreciative of all the work we have been doing over the last year to raise funds for projects like the one here.

The children there were so smiley and waving at us all the time and wanting to be near us. There were these two boys who I kept seeing around and they both looked quite similar so I thought they must be related.

Then our driver Amadu told me they were cousins and one of the little boys had lost his mother and father to AIDS. As soon as I heard this my eyes just started to fill up and I started thinking about my own family and how much they mean to me. There was plenty more filled into that day but that part will always stay in my mind.

But the next day was one of the most emotional, especially for me. We went to an outreach centre for mums and babies at a place called Akpakpa. Again we were also greeted very openly and the people and children were smiling.

I could see straight away that it was very different to the centre we had been before at Ankpa. I mean in a bad way.

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