Board games like monopoly, scrabble and ludo are used for fun and relaxation. But in a tiny, remote Senegalese village, a new board game is saving lives.

The Wure, Were, Werle, or W3, is a safe motherhood game introduced in Khombole village, east of Senegal’s capital Dakar by Plan International and other organisations to raise women’s awareness of maternal and child health.

Maternal mortality in Senegal is estimated at 1,200 per 100,000 births. The high rate is partly attributed to illiteracy and lack of adequate health information, particularly in the rural areas.

At the Khombole Health Centre, Coura and other young mothers are surrounded by a group of women as they play the W3 game. Every playing card shows a cultural image and typical cultural notions and proverbs are written underneath.

Winning the game
Scrolling her fingers on the three-coloured deck of the wooden box, Coura explains: “Red shows the risk factors, yellow represents the detection methods and green is the solution.”

After a few tricks, Coura wins the game and is awarded a set of green marble balls that she stores in a wooden box. Displaying a card bearing a Sheppard, she says: “This represents a risk which can be related to the height of the woman. For example, the pregnancy of a woman who is 1 meter and 50 centimeters is a risky pregnancy.”

In Khombole, there are hardly any job opportunities or social activities for the residents to engage themselves in. And because most women in the village can’t read or write, they have little idea of the progress of pregnancy.

No game to relax
But with the W3 game Plan International is enlightening these women through the colours they are familiar with and the signs and images that relate to wellbeing.

For Coura, “this is not just a game that relaxes us. It is a life changing exercise. There are many pregnancy-related issues that I would have taken for granted and that would have been detrimental to my health. But with this game, I’m aware of all these issues and I am now able to undergo safe pregnancy and motherhood.”

The W3 was introduced to educate rural women like Coura on 24 pregnancy and motherhood risk factors, originally identified by the World Health Organisation.

More than symbols
In rural Senegal women can’t openly discuss pregnancy and motherhood issues. So what the W3 game does, is to give an informal platform to the women to discuss and learn about their health through symbols and images rather than words.

According to local health officials, more and more women in Khombole are having a safe pregnancy thanks to the W3 game. And since the introduction of the game, more women than ever are coming to the health centre for advice.

Coura hopes that the game is introduced to more villages around the country. “It’s great fun and it had changed our lives. Other women in Senegal should also be given this great opportunity’, she says with excitedly.