No births here; The woes of expectant mothers of Mafi-Dove
Mafi-Dove, (peace), is a village with a tradition which does not reconcile with its name ‘peace’. It has a tradition that forbids women from giving birth in the village. Located near the Ada -Sogakope road in the Volta Region, and with a population of about 2000, Dove is dotted with tributaries of the Volta River.
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At Mafi-Dove, I asked a middle-aged woman to tell me the word for pregnancy in “Mafi”, the local language.
“Ku kple agbe,” she told me. “What is the translation in English?” I asked. “Between life and death,” she said. In Mafi-Dove, pregnancy is fraught with perils. Childbirth in this part of the country is a concept that is shrouded in spiritual mysticism.
Traditions regarding pregnancy
Since time immemorial, Mafi-Dove has honoured her land, both for its tradition and culture, by instituting beliefs and customs that oblige women to abide by certain rules and regulations, starting from the very desire to have children.
Tracing the history of the village, Mr Kwame Tsiditse Gbenua, the stool father of the Aklorbor clan, said the founder of Mafi-Dove, Togbe Gbewofia Akiti, received a message from God instructing him neither to permit women to give birth in the village nor allow any resident to bury their dead there. They also do not rear animals.
He said every woman who realised she was in labour had to inform her parents to take her from the village to “Aloryi” or “Dokpo”, the two designated communities for childbirth and burial of the dead.
Ironically, none of the two villages has a clinic or CHPS compound and as such the women always rely on traditional birth attendants.
As if that is not enough, the women have to stay in those villages after delivery for seven days before they are deemed fit and clean enough to return to Dove, the traditional capital.
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According to Mr Gbenua, in case of an unexpected childbirth in the village, the baby’s mother and her family have to inform the elders for the necessary rituals to be performed to cleanse the town.
He said failure to do so on the part of the woman and the family would result in the baby becoming abnormal or a calamity befalling the family.
Culture along with Christianity
There is something about Mafi-Dove that exudes tranquility and a certain calm. Along with the growing population of people with traditional beliefs, what has also grown is the number of churches, many of which are pentecostal.
Elder Emson Kpodzro of the Church of Pentecost said the people of Mafi-Dove were generally christians, adding that he lived peacefully with the chiefs and elders of the village as he did not preach against their traditional beliefs.
He said women in his church also abided by the traditions and customs of the land, stressing that with time the people would change.
According to him, the church’s duty is to preach the word of God, and that anywhere there is a church there is a blessing.
Call for change
Change, they say, is always good, but the problem, according Leo Tolstoy, is that “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”. Dumega Daruga Tsidi and other elders of the Aklorbor clan seem to have taken a cue from this quote. They told me point blank that nothing could be done to change their cherished tradition.
“If any official tries to change our custom, i will vacate the town for him to do his or her wish for calamity to befall him,” Dumega Tsidi said.
Some worried youth who pleaded anonymity said they tried to persuade Togbe Tsatsu Sakplika III, senior divisional chief of Mafi-Dove, to end the outrageous custom, but to no avail.
The youth said they were getting worried as access to a decent health centre was a significant challenge, often necessitating hours of travel by ‘Okada’ which is the only means of transport from Dove to the main road to Sogakope, which is about 20 kilometres away or to Battor, which is 10 kilometres away, before they could access the needed health facility.
They, however, believed that once rituals could be performed to cleanse the town after an unexpected childbirth, then something could also be done to allow women to give birth in the village and for families to bury their loved ones.
They appealed to the Minister of Health, Gender, Children and Social Protection and the authorities concerned to intervene on their behalf and prevail upon the chief and elders for the necessary action to be taken.
Conclusion
Pregnancy and childbirth at Dove fly in the face of the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal 5 which is aimed at eliminating maternal mortality by the end of September 2015.
Writer’s email: [email protected]
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