Women, especially in Africa, are expected to be strong, to bear it all, and to know what to do when it comes to motherhood. In 2022, a study by the National Institutes of Health showed that 24% of nursing mothers in East African countries suffered from postpartum depression. The most worrying part is that the majority of these women don’t even know that those lingering feelings of sadness, confusion, and anger are actually pointing to PPD.  Don’t get me wrong, babies are cute

I carried a nation in my womb, Not just a child But hunger, fear, and borrowed hope. I counted coins while counting kicks, Wondering which pain would come first: Labor, Or life after it. The hospital walls were too white for my reality, Private rooms reserved for women Who never feared the word deposit. I labored on plastic beds, Among cries stitched together by poverty, Where nurses work miracles with tired hands And mothers learn strength by force. They say childbirth is na