Meet Arua’s first midwife

Ruth Ogena Obetia still wears her pale pink midwife’s uniform which she received shortly after qualifying as a midwife in the 1950s. Photo by Sandra Janet Birungi

What you need to know:

Ruth Ogena Obetia joined midwifery because her father asked her to do so and save other women from dying during childbirth. Although she blindly followed her father’s advice, she did not know that the decision would make her the first native midwife in Arua District.

By the time she trained to become a midwife in the 1950s, Ruth Ogena Obetia did not know she would be the first midwife in her district, later on work alone day and night for a year on the wards; but that is exactly what happened.
Born in the early1930s, Obetia says she was encouraged to pursue a career in midwifery by her father who lost his sister during childbirth.
“I was the only girl in our family and after my aunt passed away, my father was determined to have me become a midwife because he wanted me to help other women not to die during childbirth,” Obetia explains.
She says she never had a different dream other than that which her father had for her even though other family members and friends thought she was going to get bad behaviours while in nursing school.

In pursuit of a dream
In 1954, she went to study at Mengo Nursing School where she graduated with a midwifery certificate.
“My uncles told dad that I was going to get pregnant or become a prostitute but my father said he wanted me to do midwifery. Even when I excelled in anatomy in my first year of study and was asked to join nursing instead, my dad insisted that I pursue that which he has asked me to do. In the end it was all worth it,” she adds.
After attaining her qualification, Obetia says she had wanted to go to Ngora but was instead posted to Arua hospital. She continues that at the time, the practicing midwife was from Bunyoro but after she (Obetia) was posted to Arua, the other midwife left so she had to work alone.

The working conditions
“That first year, I used to work 12 hours a day. I was alone at the station thank God there were nursing aids to help out. I would go to the hospital in the morning and in the evening, I would go back home to freshen up before going back. It was hectic but what could I do? I was alone.”
Even after getting more midwives to help her with the work load, Arua hospital was still grappling with infrastructure.
Obetia says she worked at the hospital for four years and the entire time, she used to help women deliver in grass thatched houses. But that changed in 1959 when the hospital got a facelift with new infrastructure.

Although she does not mention the issue of electricity, I let my mind wonder to how they used to deal with night deliveries.
Despite the circumstances, Obetia says she has never lost a mother under her care something that she is clearly proud of; she asserts with a nod of her head when we look at her bewildered at her expertise.
She says issues such as the C-sections which is so rampant nowadays and the problem of fistula used to exist even then although they were on a much lower scale.
“Women trusted me so I could often get information from them telling me that some urine or faeces were leaking. I would then refer them to doctors who would carry out repairs although this was not a common thing,” she explains.

She continues that she had delivered many of the children, young and old within Arua town and the village where she stays which is just a few kilometers from the town.
“Most children call me obiba which means mother because I either helped deliver them or helped their mothers and that is why to date, many women still come to me for advice regarding their children saying if I helped them deliver, why shouldn’t I help their children.”
Obetia retired in 1994 after 40 years of service. Since then, she has continued helping those who seek her services to deliver as well as offer advice on what pregnant women and new mothers ought to do.

During the interview, she is putting on her uniform, a pale pink and oversized uniform which she says she has owned since she first qualified as a midwife. Despite the worn out state of the uniform, it is the light in her eyes that tell of a pride far beyond the eye can wander.
“I just want to build a maternity room here so that I can continue helping women deliver babies,” she says as she points to her compound. “Some women do not want to go to hospitals, so what do you do when they come to you? Do you chase them away? Of course not, but I don’t have a good place for them. So I want that place so that I can help,” she continues.
She adds that when a case is too hard for her to handle, she quickly refers her patients to the hospital.

Lessons, advice for today’s woman and midwife

“When I was training, we were taught that you never slap women in the face because you want them to open their legs while giving birth. You only slap the thighs but today, they [midwives] sometimes slap faces and it is not a good practice,” she says.
She further encourages midwives to talk encouragingly to women who fear to push their babies.
“When I was in Mengo, you could find a woman who would say she did not want to push anymore or that she did not have the energy to push; often some would say they could not do it. But I would talk to them, soothe them and encourage them to push the baby, that is what they should do as well. Don’t bark at the woman, just help her, they are scared.”

She adds that in cases where the woman has a small pelvis or if the baby is lying wrongly, caesarean section is acceptable.
To the expectant mothers, Obetia says seeking hospital services will save their lives and that of their unborn babies. She urges all pregnant women to seek antenatal services and also deliver from hospitals for healthy babies.

Plans
Of the seven children she mothered, Obetia says she lost three but of the surviving ones, one is a midwife as well although she is not practicing in Arua District. She says she wants to set up a maternity ward in her home where she can deliver children but lacks the equipment and the licence to allow her to practice what she loves the most.
Whereas some people are motivated to work because of monetary gain, for Obetia, it is service beyond self.
She for her, it is the satisfaction that comes with the fact that she is living her father’s dream and that no expectant mother has died on her watch.