WINDHOEK – An on-duty Windhoek correctional facility employee, a member of operation kalahari, who assisted a mother deliver a baby, reunited with the family in the Havana informal settlement, two weeks after the backyard delivery. The correctional officer, Fabina Nditoudja Hangula, also shared that it was not the first time that she was helping a fellow woman to deliver a baby. In 2013, Hangula, with the help of her mother, also assisted a woman deliver twins in the north. During the visit to the family home in Havana, Hangula was joined by her senior colleagues who are also part of the Operation Kalahari Desert. The colleagues donated clothes and other items to the newly born as well as to the unemployed mother. The mother, Lavinia Kashile, and her baby girl who is named after Hangula and nicknamed ‘Kalahari’ were only discharged from hospital this week. Two weeks ago, the 20-year-old Kashile was on her way back home from a visit when she started having labour pains while in a taxi. She was only expected to be due on 8 November.
“I told the driver I am paining and he asked if I was expecting and replied yes. He pulled me out of the taxi, saying I won’t give birth in his car, dropped me off on the side of the road and told me to sit there,” Kashile recalled. She called out to a woman who was at a house but ignored her. This week during a media briefing, Hangula shared her story how she safely delivered the baby. Hangula, who was the only female officer during a shift patrol, spotted Kashile around 17h00 sitting and leaning outside a house fence in Hakahana. Hangula sought permission at a nearby house to be allowed to enter the house to deliver the baby. A woman found at the house initially refused but gave Hangula the homeowner’s number to request for permission, which they were granted. The officers then carried Kashile in the yard. Hangula instructed her male colleagues to cordon off the house and to ensure no one takes photographs. “I went in the dustbin and found two plastic bags of washing powder. I took the plastics and placed them down. I pulled off the jersey the mother was wearing and placed it on top of the plastic bags. I prepared the lady but my hands were not safe. I told her to sit nice and I pull off her clothes. I went back to the dustbin to take plastic bags to cover my hands,” related Hangula. She eventually delivered the baby and placed her on her mother’s jersey. Hangula added that the homeowner later came running towards them and handed them a blanket, which they covered the mother and baby. The ambulance also arrived and a paramedic cut the baby’s umbilical cord. The mother and baby were taken to the Katutura hospital for further treatment. Hangula said she assisted Kashile because of the uniform she is wearing and to demystify public perceptions about Operation Kalahari Desert. “I want to thank her. I didn’t expect her assistance. She saved our lives,” said the soft-spoken mother.