ABSTRACT
It was a brisk sunny morning in a Kikuyu settlement in the Kenya Highlands. Florence, a 34-year-old mother of three children, was pregnant and working in her field of cassava and corn. Her husband was at work, her sister lived a mile away, and her children were in school or playing at a homestead nearby. Florence had felt contractions since 4:00 A.m. and had prepared her bedside table with a sharp, clean knife, some string to tie the cord, and a number of cloths and blankets before going to farm. Feeling the contractions quickening, she retired to her bed, and alone delivered an active, male infant without complications. After a brief rest, she announced the birth to the neighbors and sent word to her husband and family.
