Habiba Ousmane: “I Taught Kangaroo, Then Lived It”

“Practice,” the old saying goes, “makes perfect.” Meaning, it is not enough to preach or teach something you have not personally lived. Because – like another saying goes – “Experience is the best teacher.” Habiba Ousmane, 35, is a refugee from the Central African Republic, CAR, now living in Gado Badzere Refugee Camp in Eastern Cameroon. For long, she served as community health worker or volunteer in the camp. Sensitising on several topics such as the care of premature babies and those delivered with low birth weights. Such children are normally hospitalised and managed in incubators, with the cost often exorbitant for many.
This is the raison d’être of the Kangaroo Mother Care, KMC project. Which is implemented in five health districts in Eastern Cameroon by the East Regional Delegation of Public Health and the Cameroon Kangaroo Foundation. Funded by the Korean National UNICEF Committee, the project also receives technical and financial support from UNICEF Cameroon. Under KMC, the baby is taken care of by the mother and eligible family members – at no cost.
On November 17, 2020, Habiba, now a single mother after separating with her refugee husband, gave birth to her sixth child. But the baby girl, Djenabou Haamadou, was preterm, weighing only 1.4kg at 28 weeks. Today, she weighs almost 3kg. “I saw it as the will of God,” Habiba recalls, referring to the birth of her premature baby. “I also saw in it an opportunity to practise KMC, which I had been teaching other families. I told myself that since other women successfully used the method, my case must not be different. Thank God, it went well!” Habiba remembers with a grin.
“I encouraged Habiba Ousmane when she had challenges with pregnancy and finally gave birth preterm. I told her it was an opportunity to put into practice what she had all along taught others. And that she must serve as example!” says Meka Monique Blanche, midwifery supervisor in Gado Badzere Refugee Camp with the Africa Humanitarian Action, AHA aid organisation. Blanche follows up babies on KMC in the camp and reports to Garoua Boulai District Hospital where they are born.<...