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It was difficult for me to accept the hero label in the story of a child with unquenchable determination who rowed her heavily pregnant mother to the hospital at 3am a week ago.
“I was worried that if I did not act fast enough, she might lose the baby and perhaps die from the labour complications. I did not want to lose her because she meant so much to us,” said the 12-year-old Virginia Aoko in an interview with the Daily Nation that led to the story titled ‘Heroic girl rowed pregnant mother across Lake Victoria at 3am to hospital’.
Unfortunately, the story did not mention the broken system that made it impossible for Virginia or her mother to have an ordinary night.
It’s only a broken system that considers a heartbroken, traumatised child a hero.
Her courage notwithstanding, no child should be rowing their mother anywhere at 3 am. Virginia is a victim, not a hero.
The problem with labelling such an act as heroic is that it glosses over the failures of a system that has consistently let down mothers and their unborn children.
Virginia’s mother was one of the lucky ones. A report published by the Daily Nation in October last year based on records of patients rushed to 54 referral hospitals in 27 counties revealed that in every 1,000 live births, about seven women narrowly escape death. Negligence, bleeding after birth and eclampsia are just a few of the causes of such fatalities.
Horror, not heroism
There’s nothing much to be celebrated about a distressed girl rowing her mother to the hospital, carrying the heavy burden of responsibility for her mother’s life. Something could have gone wrong.
She probably stopped being a child that night because she was forced to reckon with worries and fears about her mother’s survival.
To glorify her trauma as heroic is to refuse to hold the government accountable for proper healthcare systems and infrastructure that would mean there would be no boats that needed rowing.
The media also owes citizens the right framing and story context, so that it should be less about the girl’s heroism but more about the horrific predicament forced on her by a broken system.
It’s a horror, not a heroism story.
***
I’ve cherished the privilege of expelling my swollen spleen weekly for the last two years. I’ve enjoyed placing my values on a petri dish and having them examined under the microscope of keen readers, some of whom took their time to write to me either about their displeasure or delight about my sometimes very unfiltered views about life. The tide is changing in my career now and like any good captain, I must adjust my sails. But not before saying thank you and goodbye to everyone who read, challenged or cheered me on. This column was an education in self-expression and the power of words.
Miss Oneya comments on social and gender topics. @FaithOneya; [email protected]
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