Portrait patient in Papua– Basilia

30-year-old Bassilia Tuanam comes from Sesakam in the district of Asmat in southern Papua. Sesakam is a hamlet of wooden huts sandwiched between the river and a dense tropical jungle that stretches over most of the region. In this hostile environment, scattered communities eke out a living, alternating between long trips in the jungle and periods of relative rest in the village. But in this very remote area, surrounded by water, swamps and forest, access to healthcare is difficult.  In emergencies the nearest health centre is situated in the city of Agats and accessible only by boat.

MSF teams met Bassilia during a mobile clinic and referred her to the surgery unit in Agats, where she underwent an emergency caesarean. The mother was saved but her baby died.

Bassilia Tuanam – Sesakam, Papua Indonesia.

I have two children living and five others are dead. They all died at birth. Normally I give birth at home without any help. I'm alone or with my husband. Sometimes, there is also one of the neighbours, a woman who comes to help me. But many times in the past it went wrong and the baby died.

When I'm pregnant I work just as hard as when I'm not. We normally stay in the village for a while and then we go back to the jungle for a week or two. While we are in the jungle we leave the children in the village and we go hunt and fish. I look for sago, which we extract from a tree and which provides our main food. We also look for sandalwood in the forest and then we sell it. During our stay in the jungle we live in a bivouac, a shelter along the river. When we are in the village, I take care of the children, I do the cleaning and the washing and I cook.

I work in the jungle even when I'm pregnant and when I feel I'm about to give birth, I always go back to the village even if the bivouac is deep in the forest. 

I was worried about giving birth because I could feel there was something wrong. I've lost so many children before. But our village is far from the Puskesmas, the health centre. It takes one full day by Kole Kole, the traditional boat. My husband came back to the village to look for help because it takes two persons to row there. But no one was willing to help us. Most of the people were in the jungle too so there weren't many people left in the village.

This time it was very bad. I had two days of labour, my waters broke but I couldn't give birth. The MSF team found me during a mobile clinic and brought me by speedboat to the Puskesmas. I was very scared by the operation but they reassured me and explained to me about the caesarean. They said the baby was lying horizontal in my belly, which is why it didn't come out. Despite the operation the baby was stillborn. It's hard when things don't go well but I know I could have died as well if I had stayed in the village. Here many people tend to wait too long before they seek healthcare. Last month, two other women lost their children during delivery because of this.