Nothing can be more devastating than to learn that a newborn died due to poor medical care. That was the case for an infant whom Notoya my wife and I met the day after Christmas 2019. He was with his parents when we held him with our own hands on our way to my father’s remote village called Mahefeh in Kambia District, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Our four children were with us, accompanied by my sister, cousin, and driver. Packed like sardines in a 2004 Honda Odyssey made Kambia roads like a roller coaster. Our eight-passenger vehicle was unfit to carry its 1,500 lbs passengers with luggage while constantly navigating potholes. The obstacles along our journey were like nothing short of daily life experiences for less fortunate individuals.

Passing through nearby villages opened our eyes to the constraints of local residents, which minimized the severity of our vehicle challenges. The villagers seem accustomed to seeing one vehicle drive by about every 45 minutes; two or at most three motorcycles pass by every 15 minutes. Men, women and children frequently travel on foot with loads that seem too heavy to carry. That’s when we met the helpless couple and their newborn sitting along a dusty roadside. Carrying his son in one hand, the father squeezed a small plastic bag of water into his wife’s mouth to save her from dehydration and childbirth pain. We stopped, reached for our first-aid kit, and asked for permission to administer medication to the exhausted mother. With the help of other travelers, the mother gets another chance to life. Sadly, few months later her newborn reportedly passed away due to malaria. The tragedy dived us into an intrinsic motivation to deliver assistance in the face of adversity.