For the nearly eight decades that Madam Mary Morkeh, popularly known as Mame Nitwe, has plied her trade as a traditional birth attendant at Insu-Siding in the Prestea-Huni Valley District in the Western Region, she is reputed to have helped deliver over 4,000 of the 7,000 inhabitants of the farming community.
Madam Morkeh, the oldest woman in her community, recently marked her 100th birthday and was celebrated and mobbed by enthusiastic members of the community, as well as others from adjoining villages who owe their entry into this world to her destiny.
At the centenary celebration, inhabitants of the community, dressed in a special centenary cloth, showered Madam Morkeh with gifts, while the women who were 50 years or more who are beneficiaries of her traditional birth attendant skills gave testimonies in commendation of her support to the community.
In a telephone chat with The Mirror, one of Madam Morkeh�s surviving daughters, Mary Morkeh, 62, aka Sister Yaa, said she grew up to see her mother in the trade and had been a living witness to the proficiency and professionalism, considering that her mother did not have any formal training in midwifery.
According to Sister Yaa, �expectant mothers came from far and near to my mother to be delivered of their babies. They came from communities such as Bogoso, Prestea, Dunkwa, Tarkwa, among others, because her mastery in the trade was known all over those communities�.
She explained that people felt very comfortable and assured that �in coming to my mother, they will be safely delivered and that has been the case ever since�.
According to Sister Yaa, at times when the going got tough and her mother encountered some challenges, she sent her children to the bush to pick some herbs which she administered to the expectant women to facilitate safe and less strenuous labour and delivery.
She, however, said there had been a few occasions when her mother had had to refer some expectant mothers to the Tarkwa Government Hospital for further attention.
According to her, as her mother began to age, she (Sister Yaa) got down to assist her in the business and the experiences she had acquired over the years had made it possible for her to take over from her mother completely.
And for the past eight years, she had been at the helm of affairs.
<<Print>>