Árdís - 01.01.1956, Page 55

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
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I could get back to the lessons easily, but the children found
it very hard to get back to work after each interruption.
School lasted until twelve thirty, when dinner was served. Of
course we often had to do a little in the afternoon to get finished.
While I was teaching the older children I had a native woman
looking after Valdina. They were fast friends and, without her,
teaching both children would have been impossible. Valdina loved
to be carried on Maffa’s back like the native babies are carried on
their mothers’ backs. Maffa often came in from the yard with
Valdina bouncing gently up and down on her back, sound asleep.
They looked very odd outside as the other babies were all so dark.
I assure you, we were all ready for our rest after dinner as the
mornings were very full.
I had a very happy experience with one of our worker’s wives
and a very sad one with another, that showed me the results of our
contact with the people. The first woman, Kebe, had worked in the
kitchen for a month and then went to work for Miss Price. After
Valdina was born, I noticed that Kebe would watch me while I
cared for the baby. I often wondered at her great interest, and
soon learned that she was expecting her third child. She and her
husband, who was our truck driver, had a little girl of three and
had lost a baby a few days before we arrived in Liberia. Kebe
stopped working, and I called her husband in to impress upon him
the need for proper care during childbirth. He promised me that
he would take Kebe to the doctor and to the hospital. When her
time came David was true to his word, and against the wishes of
his old mother, took Kebe to the hospital in the city.
I was nervous that night but, to my relief, everything was fine,
and in five days Kebe brought a lovely little girl to see me. The
constant danger of tetanus was still with her so I gave her sterile
pads and showed her how to clean around the cord until it came off.
It was a joy to help Kebe care for her baby. She was so careful
about boiling water and applied all the things she had learned in
the house. Many times Kebe came with fear in her eyes when the
baby seemed to be sick. She always took my advice and saw the
doctor if I thought it was necessary. Just to look out the window
and see Kebe with her fat healthy baby gave me so much pleasure.
A few months after the birth of Kebe’s child I learned that