In Sierra Leone, pregnant women face difficulties during their search for healthcare provisions. The scarcity of healthcare institutions in certain areas and the journey they would have to take in order to get to one are directly related to why 1 in 10 pregnant women in Sierra Leone face death in childbirth. The graphic novel follows the stories of Memunatu, Heela, Kadiatu, and Tetteh, sharing their birth experiences, as well as how access to health centers impacted the outcome of their lives, as well as those lives of their children.
At her birth, Memunatu delivered at home with the help of her village herbalist and her grandmother nearby. To her demise, her baby died in her stomach after she was in labor for two days straight. Her herbalist promised that she knew how to deliver children, but was seriously uneducated. Eventually, she found the opportunity to drive to a hospital in Freetown that diagnosed her with a fistula. She was able to have a successful surgery and later gave birth to a child.
For Heela, she was only a school girl when she was raped and became pregnant. Fortunately for her, she was able to give birth safely at a hospital although the journey wasn’t simple. She faced a lot of strain on her mental well being as she navigated pregnancy alone, after her rapist abandoned her, and as she had to give up on her dreams of becoming a nurse in order to stay at home with her child.
Kadiatu had many children but they all but one, Abdul, died before the age of five. Only two made it to four years old, while the others lasted a year, a few weeks, and two more didn’t even make it alive out of her womb. The village healers couldn’t come up with a great reason for her misfortune and Kadiatu made the brave decision to visit a hospital during the Ebola crisis. She spent almost 4 months there and had to have 3 surgeries but her baby was born safely. After she returned home, she soon found that Abdul was sick but after taking him to the hospital he was cured and became healthy again.
Uniquely, when Tetteh was only 3 months pregnant, she was put into a correctional facility. Her story is extremely tragic. She killed her husband in self defense after facing relentless abuse before, during, and after her first pregnancy. During her second pregnancy, he also abused her, potentially destroying the health of the baby in her stomach, and ultimately leading her to attacking him with a knife. When it was time for her to give birth, Tetteh had the opportunity to go to a hospital and fortunately her child was healthy. He lived with her at the prison for two years until he was taken away to be cared for.
Nuclear warfare is an underimaged issue. The nuclear bombs that countries are developing in case of war are highly dangerous and more powerful than any other bomb that has been deployed in the history of the earth. They have the power of over 10,000 tons of TNT, create an outstanding bright light that can blind anyone who is near it, and raise temperatures in the deployment zone to over one million degrees. At the start of the War between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian leader Putin had threatened a nuclear war, however many people highly doubted that he would actually use one of Russia's nuclear weapons against them. As countries over the years are expanding the amount of nuclear weapons which they possess, the idea that obtaining nuclear weapons prevents nuclear warfare is being reinforced rather than the perception that the obtainance of them may instead actually be what leads to warfare.
If Russia actually committed nuclear war against Ukraine, tens of thousands of people would die. For those not killed by the implosion or radiation, they will be left wounded and sick, unable to reach care due to roads and transit lines being destroyed, as well as electricity being shorted out. Insects that are less vulnerable to radioactivity will begin to take over the dead bodies that remain and infect the living. Black rain will fall as depositions from the explosion contaminate the water. Over time, the wounded develop more severe illness and those who may seem healthy, feel under the weather due to radiation. Pregnant women would give birth to children with defects, and food sources would diminish, being impacted for years.
Countries like Taiwan and Korea are at risk on top of Ukraine for being met with nuclear warfare. The thirst for power and land by many powerful nations could be the force which causes many people to lose their lives. Nuclear warfare will never really affect just one nation. The intensity of nuclear weapons enables radiation to travel large distances. The loss of one nation in the economy may also negatively impact a series of international economic affairs.