Two of my favorite people in the world joined forces in December to check on clinic solar suitcases in Northern Nigeria. UCSF Midwife Sharon Wiener flew to Nigeria to continue her fabulous work to bring “Centering Pregnancy” to rural women in need of prenatal care. In mid-2010, she began teaching Nigerian health care workers about this method of group prenatal care that empowers women as they teach and learn about pregnancy from each other. She returned in December, to continue coaching the “Centering Pregnancy” team in Nigeria. We couldn’t miss an opportunity to connect with our solar suitcase clinics, and asked Sharon for assistance. Armed with solar suitcase supplies, she met up with Idris Jibrin, who has been my driver and #1 assistant in Nigeria over the last two years. Perhaps most importantly, Idris has become the official WE CARE Solar Suitcase “fix-it man.” He brought Sharon to see several clinics during her December trip and the two of them restocked the clinics with LED light bulbs and collected valuable feedback for our research.
