A Mother’s Story

It was a sweltering summer day when Izula Jade, who was about six weeks pregnant, felt sick. 

This nausea and pain were familiar, like the two ectopic pregnancies she’d had before, wherein she lost her babies. So she sought help from Hakima Tafunzi Payne, a Kansas City area leader and the co-founder of Uzazi Village. Jade calls her “Mama Hakima.”  

But when she walked into Uzazi Village’s foyer, that’s where things took a turn, Jade says. Noting that Jade was unable to keep water down, Payne, a former labor-and-delivery nurse, advised she get treated at a nearby Kansas City hospital. Read more.