A Story from BLiSS
Baba Safdar is an elderly man, who has become one of our greatest advocates, in teaching men’s Birth and Life Saving Skills (BLiSS) in our community.
Every day Baba would come early to class, and ask lots of questions. I began to wonder, “Why is this old man so interested in the problems and issues of pregnancy?”
At the end of a session, we have a time when the questions are asked, “Does anyone know someone who had this problem? Does anyone have a story?”
One day at the end of the session, I heard Baba Safdar’s story.
With shaking hands, he cleared his throat, and began to speak, “I had a wife; I loved very much. She helped me in everything. When I cut the grass and wheat, she worked with me, and brought me tea, and packed the hay. About 20 years ago, my wife was pregnant and one day she went out to cut and bring in grass for the animals. She would take a big basket, fill it and carry it home. This day, she began to severely bleed.
In the beginning, I didn’t think anything was really wrong. The local midwives came; one told me to use a medicine, another told me to use an herbal potion, and the third told me to pray and hope for luck. I tried all of them, but it didn’t help. I took her to the clinic, but there were no doctors. My wife became weaker and weaker, she couldn’t eat, and one morning when the sunshine entered the window, she called me gently and said, ‘ Safdar! I will no longer be alive; I have one wish, I want you to keep my children safe.’ Then she looked me in the eyes and died, and left me all alone.
Now, I have learned many things. If we had a BLiSS course then, we could have helped our wives and our children. If I had this much information then, maybe my wife would still be alive.”
What BLiSS Entails
Birth and Life Saving Skills (BLiSS) is a community-based program that teaches how to have safe births, how to identify problems in pregnancy and what to do about it, how to take care of a newborn and the mother after delivery, and for men’s BLiSS an emphasis is added on how important it is for them to be advocates for safe pregnancies and deliveries in their communities. IAM’s community development teams in Faryab, Ghor, and Badakhshan provinces currently teach BLiSS.
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