A new photo series has captured 10 mothers and their newborn babies on their first day of life in a remote district of Malawi.
London photographer Jenny Lewis worked with the charity WaterAid to produce the series, titled ‘One Day Young’, at the Simulemba health centre in Kasungu – which welcomes 90 babies each month.
Lewis had previously visited the region in 2015 when there was no running water or toilets at the centre – and met with mothers and their children. She returned, following years of fundraising, to see the impact that clean water and sanitation has had on the maternity ward and hear from mothers about the difference it makes to them and their families.
Vitumbiko, 25, had her son Brave at the centre when there was no water and recently returned to have her daughter Evelless, this time staying at the centre for three days – she’d hoped to stay longer to get more rest, but was needed back at home.
“It feels much better giving birth with water close by,” she said. “Before, women would fight for the water and people from the village would make new mothers wait to get water. I had hoped things would be better this time and they were. I have been able to wash twice since giving birth; it felt very good to be able to get the blood away so quickly.”
Alinafe is pictured above holding baby Ethel, born the previous afternoon. She said she had hoped she would give birth at Simulemba “because of the good record that it has” and that she and her baby had “better odds” there. The 19-year-old mother lives three hours away from the health centre. “The place closer to me does not have the same facilities and the staff aren’t as supportive.”
Nearly half of healthcare facilities in least developed countries, and one in four globally, do not have clean water on site, increasing the risk of infection.
Alinafe, had a bath twice in the 24 hours after having Ethel. She said she was “very happy and relieved to be able to wash”.
Christina, 16, gave birth to her first child, Jovita at the centre – pictured below. Christina visited Simulemba with her mother, Rute – they walked the 30-40 minutes that it takes from her village, and Christina has been staying here for five weeks.
“I wouldn’t have felt good if the health centre didn’t have water,” she said. “You need water to wash clothes and clean yourself after giving birth. Here, I’ve been able to bathe twice since yesterday. It felt really good”.
Another newborn baby boy is pictured below hours after delivery at Simulemba. The infant’s mother, Kefasi, 14, arrived at the centre the previous night with her mother Mercy Zimba and went into labour early that morning.
Kefasi walks half a kilometre to her closest water point at home – she does this twice a day, carrying a 20 litre bucket each time.
Falesi, 32, holds newborn Herbert less than an hour after giving birth.
Melifa, 28, below, holds her as yet unnamed newborn baby at Simulemba.
Newborn babies like Melifa’s are wrapped in material soon after being delivered at Simulemba and weighed.
Globally, 225,000 babies die of sepsis in their first four weeks of life, most of those in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. WaterAid say that many of these deaths might have been prevented had they been born into a clean environment.
“Before water was installed it was very difficult to prevent infection in new mothers and their babies,” said Vincent Dominic Jere, 44, a midwife at the Simulemba health centre. “Women would sometimes get sepsis after childbirth, maybe because a midwife hadn’t been able to wash their hands or equipment”. He feels “more relaxed” now there’s water at the centre: “It makes a big difference knowing people aren’t at risk”.
As well as photographing the new babies arriving at Simulemba, photographer Jenny Lewis saw mothers she met on her last trip three years ago.
“It was immensely touching to meet the families again and to see how the children have grown,” she said. “Despite the setbacks the families face each day and the total lack of material items, what they have in abundance is hope.”
Simulemba health centre now has clean water and decent sanitation thanks to WaterAid and UK aid from the British people as part of the charity’s Deliver Life project.