Mothering

From our national newspaper today:   "UGANDA is ranked 122nd out of 158 countries in the State of the World's Mothers report, released by Save the Children yesterday. . . . .The best place on Earth to be a mother is Sweden, followed by Norway. Of the 10 worst countries for mothers, nine are in Africa. They include Sudan, Sierra Leone, DR Congo, Eritrea and Angola. . . "In short, providing mothers with access to education, economic opportunities and maternal and child health care gives mothers and their children the best chance to survive and thrive," the report says. "

And from me:  thanks for praying for Anita, who came with her mother again yesterday, and got a 3-week supply of medicines from the limited stock that arrived.  Her mom said her appetite has been poor.  Hard to say yet if this is a sign that the gap in supply has sent her viral counts spiraling.  

The report on mothers ranks countries based on life expectancy for women (53 years in Uganda, so I'm getting closer to the end . . ), average years of formal education for girls (10 in Uganda, which is pretty good for the region), access to family planning services and supervised safe deliveries, income potential relative to men's, political representation.  

It does not, however, measure the soul-piercing reality of watching your child go off of ARV medicines, of waiting in interminable lines for care, of having your baby bitten by a rat, of bringing children into this world whom you are powerless to feed and clothe and protect and nurture.  As a mother I can only imagine what lies in the hearts of the many women I interact with every day, but that imaginary glimpse pushes me on.