While pregnant with her daughter, Ghilda Chrabieh worked for Mercy Corps in Rwanda, Syria and the Philippines, among other countries, before giving birth to her baby in Canada. Chrabieh relied on her doctor back home in Lebanon and stayed in regular touch via WhatsApp.
Now, Chrabieh is based full time in Nigeria as Mercy Corps director of humanitarian programs. She still relies on apps like Viber and WhatsApp to talk with her gynecologist and her nearly 2-year-old daughter’s pediatrician. Otherwise, she tends to watch and wait it out when she sees her baby develop a rash, for example, and she always returns to Nigeria with a cache of birth control pills.
“Obviously it is not easy. It is very tough, and sometimes it was like, ‘I just want to go home right now,’ but then, I signed up for the work,” said Chrabieh, recalling her experience with her pregnancy. “I don’t know if compromise is the right word but it is the only thing I can think of. It is a question of managing expectations.”