One of the biggest problems I face is that women leave it very late to come to me when they go into labour, probably because the clinic isn’t the safest place to give birth. The ceiling is threatening to collapse, there are bats in the roof – there is bat urine running down the walls and insects.

When I found out I was being posted to Iyolwa I thought I was being punished. It is often referred to as ‘the worst clinic in Africa’, but I do the best I can with the meagre resources we have.

As I am the only midwife, I rarely leave the clinic grounds. On Wednesdays I sometimes pop to the market across the road to get some basic essentials for myself and Noelina, but I am never gone for very long. Most days I spend my time walking between the clinic and my two-room house where I carry out chores in between deliveries.

I became a midwife as I love babies and I wanted a career where you have to act quickly and think on your feet. I delivered five babies on Christmas Day and another five on New Year’s Eve. It is so rewarding.

Unfortunately 500 women a day die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth in Africa. Thankfully I have not lost a patient yet but I am becoming all too familiar with delivering stillborn babies, most commonly as a result of malaria or HIV. This is the most difficult part of my job. We don’t have the facilities at the clinic to perform caesareans and most people I treat don’t have the 8,000 Ugandan shillings (£2) needed for emergency transport to hospital, so fatalities are a harsh reality.

It’s hard to relax and forget about work but for my own strength and for the happiness of my daughter, I must stay strong.

If there are no women in labour, I head home at 5pm and set the fire, prepare dinner – usually beans and rice – and put Noelina to bed. Some nights my friend will visit and we chat, most nights though I listen to the news on my radio before going to bed at 9pm. I like to go to bed as early as possible as I never know when I’ll be woken up to help deliver Iyolwa’s latest arrival.”

Iyolwa Health Centre is being renovated as part of Operation Health for Comic Relief. See Dorothy in action in Comic Relief: Operation Health on BBC One, Thursday 12 March at 9pm; rednoseday.com/operationhealth

A day in the work life of Dorothy Apio, a midwife based in Eastern Uganda