As we reflect on Martha’s leadership at Medical Teams, we’re taking a look at one of the most enduring parts of her legacy — her commitment to caring for women and children around the world. Though she’s achieved much in her tenure as President and CEO of Medical Teams, it’s the work she’s done to champion the health and rights of women that’s closest to her heart. In her last year at Medical Teams, Martha focused particularly on the health of women in Sudan as violent conflict broke out in April 2023.

Today, we’re sharing a conversation Martha recently had with Salma Salah, the supervisor of our community health workers in Sudan. A mother to 5 — including twin girls! — Salma is a part of the small percentage of women in Sudan who work outside their homes.

After completing a master’s degree in Khartoum, Salma’s interest in humanitarian work and the health field led her and her family to different parts of Sudan. They’ve settled in Gedaref, where Medical Teams recently expanded our operations. In April 2023, she welcomed many family members from Khartoum who escaped the brutal violence that erupted between warring factions of the military. Since she began working for Medical Teams 7 months ago, she’s been making incredible progress helping women and children in Sudan.

Hear more from Salma about community health workers, the situation in Sudan, and what it’s like to be a woman in the workforce there. Women like Salma are the people Martha has supported and empowered during her time with Medical Teams — it’s clear from this conversation what an impact she’s had.

Martha in Conversation with Salma Salah

Martha: First of all, can you tell us briefly what community health worker supervisors do?

Salma: Ok, first of all, I love to work with the community. I think the community is the basic foundation for everything.

“If you start from community, you start from the root.” – Salma

M: True!

S: I supervise community health workers, which is a network of workers doing health promotion activities and outreach team activities as well.

M: What does a typical day look like for you?

S: I usually wake up early in the morning, and then go! I love to go to work very early. My team has a small meeting in the morning for updates. We talk about what happened yesterday, if there are any challenges from yesterday, and discuss the work plan for today. Then they move to the field, to visit door-to-door and send messages. I do my own visits, it depends if we have sessions or community leaders. At the end of the day, we gather again for a small meeting about what happened that day.

M: You’re right there, close to the issues that people are experiencing! What kinds of health issues are women and children facing?

S: Malnutrition is the main issue because they’re displaced, they’ve lost all their property. [Note: more than 6 million Sudanese people have been forced to leave home by the ongoing conflict.] In situations like that you find a lot of sickness. So that’s why in our clinic, we have a primary health care package including nutrition.

M: Are there emergency nutrition programs for these women and children?

S: Yes. We support the Ministry of Health’s nutrition program, and we also hold a support group for women. We have a program training mothers to advise them and raise their awareness toward how they have to deal with malnutrition with children and what the suitable time is to get seek help.

Hoping for a brighter future

M: You know, people in the U.S. probably don’t understand what it’s like to be a woman with young children trying to flee in such a volatile circumstance. Can you share how much time, for example, it takes for them to get to safety?

S: The distance from Khartoum to Gedaref is so long. So long. People were suffering, they wanted to get out, but it’s never completely safe. They left without any authority to protect them. To get here they lost a lot of things — valuables, or even members of the family. They get to Gedaref in a miserable situation, really. And it’s not easy for women with kids to live without their husbands, and to take all the responsibility on their shoulders.

M: What’s your hope for the women and girls and these children you’re serving, in such difficult times?

S: You know, the problem for women in my country is [lack of education]. They are not independent; they’re always led by men so they don’t have a chance by themselves. It leads to poverty, to sickness, to all of these problems. Yes, I hope for every woman in my country to get an education.

M: You must be such a role model for them.

S: I hope so. We’re encouraging other women to allow their daughters to get an education.

“This is my wish — to enhance any women in my country to get an education, and that way she will survive, and the coming generation will survive.” – Salma

M: Nutrition for the children is so important too, because those kids need to have their brains develop in order to be able to survive and thrive.

S: Yes. It’s like the start of a circuit. Everything leads to another thing, from education and nutrition.

A reason to keep trying for women in Sudan

M: Exactly, that’s right. It starts with health and then from there you can go on to an education. I’m wondering, is there a story that demonstrates what motivates you to do this work for women in Sudan?

S: So many, yes.

M: I’m sure!

S: There’s one that really inspired me to continue my community work. Once, when I was providing awareness in a countryside area — this was so sad — there was a 2-year-old who was blind in one eye. I discovered we could treat it, so we began the process of the treatment. After that, about a month later, I asked how it was going. And they told me the child had died.

M: Oh, no.

S: Yes. His mother hadn’t been able to make the decision about her life or even her son’s life. She had married someone who wouldn’t look after a kid, so she left him with her parents. He was partially blind and malnourished, too. Then there was a fire in the village.

M: That is really tragic.

S: What I felt at that time was that we shouldn’t ever lose another kid. Because of her culture, because of her community, she had to stay with her husband who looks after her. She should have been able to be independent, to make a decision for her family.

“It takes me to a different level of thinking how we have to support mothers.” – Salma

M: And she felt like she had to leave her son behind with her parents, and then didn’t have control over what happened to him.

S: Yes. I left him for just one month, and when I returned, they told me there is no city anymore. It was such a shock for me.

Celebrating successes

M: Definitely. Now that we’re sad though, do you have a happy story to share?

S: Yes! We were struggling with a certain person who refused to talk to his wife about family planning and [pre- and post-natal] care. It’s forbidden to speak about this, he’s from a very strict community. So I met him, and he was very direct. He said, “What do you want to say?” But after so many visits — so many visits! — guess what? He gave his new baby my name.

M: Oh, I love that. So now there’s a little baby Salma named after you because you had such an impact on that family!

S: Yes, and now she’s in our group for breastfeeding and postnatal care, which is so important for women. And lack of family planning is one of the causes of malnutrition in Sudan.

M: That’s true. You had such an impact on that family, I love that story.

“If women can have some space between having children, that helps that child be much better nourished and for the mom to be strong as well.” – Martha

S: Yes, we had to convince him.

M: You were brave to talk to them.

S: I love challenges!

Helping women in Sudan

M: What would you hope that [people] would understand about the situation for women in Sudan?

S: Well, first of all, Sudan is a wonderful country. Our natural resources, and even the Sudanese people are really, really exceptional — and not just because I’m Sudanese, of course! But it’s an ocean of problems, too. We are suffering, as women and kids, and dying every day. Some are starving or dying because of the collapsed health system. Here in Sudan, you can’t find even a single dose of antibiotics or anything.

M: It’s a huge country, too.

S: Yes, and in some areas, Medical Teams is the only organization who provides health services.

“All of the community depends on Medical Teams in some areas.” – Salma

M: Wow, right. And you said something significant that we might not understand in the U.S. You said the health system has collapsed — it’s hard for us to comprehend what that’s like. For a pregnant woman not to have health services, or prenatal care, or somebody to help her deliver…

S: Yes, you may lose your baby because of just 1 injection or 1 tablet, because there’s no midwife to actually help you take it. This situation is critical. It’s completely critical.

M: Right, you lose women just giving birth. And in most countries it wouldn’t be a death sentence, but without health services, it can be extremely dangerous.

S: That’s why we have a high maternal mortality rate, and we all have to decrease this.

Praying for one another

M: I’m just so grateful for the work that you’re doing, and how you’re also encouraging women to access services so their pregnancies end with a healthy baby.

S: We have support too, to teach women confidence as well. We collect them all together and invite a midwife or a social worker to encourage them — like, how to deal with this, or how to change an experience, or just to talk — and every time, I tell them, you can talk! You can call me, you can seek help.

M: You’re such a hero to me, doing all of this work with such love and understanding of what your people need.

S: God bless you. You are in the same humanitarian field, so we’re speaking the same language, and we are in the same village.

“I thank you very much, I believe that you feel what I feel.” – Salma

M: That’s right, and I appreciate that. We’re standing with you in prayer and just know that we are behind you every step of the way.

Martha’s legacy of caring

Martha’s conversation with Salma is a clear demonstration of her dedication to supporting women and children around the world, but particularly women in Sudan. And Salma is the kind of experienced expert we are proud to have on our team — her commitment to helping restore the health of people in Sudan, and her deep desire to support women and children, are an example to us all!

Thank you, Martha and Salma! Find out more about how you can help women in Sudan today.

 

This interview was originally conducted in December 2023. It has been edited for clarity and concision.