A scheduled trip to Somaliland by Cheikh Tidiane Cisse, UNFPA Somalia Country Office Representative, on the 2^nd of April, included a visit to one of the Community Midwifery Schools funded and technically supported by UNFPA. The Hargeisa Institute of Social Science,  one of the five Community Midwifery (CMW) training institutions in Somalia supported by UNFPA, was the school selected for the visit not by random choice but because the place possesses exceptional dynamics in terms of the background of students it trains and the significance of its location.

The community midwifery students were delighted to meet and thank the Representative and UNFPA for providing an opportunity for them to go to school and get a chance at a better future.

Leyla, a lady from Woq. Galbeed region of Somalia, ecstatic and beaming with confidence when she stood in front of the students to thank the Representative on behalf of her classmates.   ‘'Thank you Cheikh Cisse and UNFPA for providing us this opportunity'', said the Leyla, who is among the top ranking students in the class, " Today UNFPA is not only training us to make something out of ourselves, but also responsibility to be the most important tools fighting for the better health of babies and mothers: frontline care givers at birth".

Leyla described Community Midwives as ‘‘soldiers at the front trained to defend their country day and night". She said, "CMWs' hold solutions in their hands because their decisions saving lives by linking women and their babies with Emergency Care when and if needed".

Leyla's village, just like all rural villages in Somaliland, lacks qualified midwives, MCHs and health posts to cater for the needs of expecting mothers and proper equipment and personnel to respond to emergencies. She could not hold her emotions when she told the Representative and the guests that how her village people naturally perceive delivery as'‘ an event   closer to the grave'' simply for a combination of lack of professional assistance and prolonged labour that usually causes death to the unborn babies due to suffocation and distress and their mothers due to hemorrhages.''

Leyla ended her speech by telling Cheikh Cisse why she joined the CMW training.  ‘‘I want to save the lives of pregnant mothers in my village,'' she said loudly, "the lives of those women in my village will be in my hands... and I am ready to work even without a salary or compensation to save them and their babies"

For this young and determined trainee, the day when she graduates and gets back to her village to do her job could not come earlier because, in her own words; ‘‘there should be no reason for babies and women to die in the presence of professional care."