the walk

I remember watching a clip on youtube about women in developing nations who have to walk for days sometimes in order to get medical attention when they go into labor. The clip alone was gripping, but here I was seeing the reality of what it actually looked like in real life. We traveled away from the city (by car, of course) for about two hours before we entered into the mountains. Unpaved, dirt roads.  Miles and miles to go. We watched the bit of “normal” African city civilianization slip away in the rear view mirror with each passing hour.  Open farm fields decorated with women and babies tied onto their backs plowing away on the fields.  The road was so bumpy I began to feel nauseous by the ride.  But this clip from youtube burned in the back of my mind. As I look out and saw nothing but land and lack of civilization for as far as I could see -I couldn’t help but think of the women who go into labor here.

What can they do?

Since the beginning of time women have been delivering babies on their own. So I know it’s possible. But I also know that Ethiopia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. And lowest number of midwives. I think there obviously has to be a correlation here. Just because women can give birth alone doesn’t mean they should have to.

When we finally made it to the small village that we would be staying in, we immediately went to the only “hospital” that was anywhere in sight. Efforts are surely made by the government to provide some kind of help for their people. But with lack of resources, finances, and knowledge -its nowhere even close to where it needs to be.  There are not enough doctors working and the hospital is hardly located in a place easily accessible to the majority of the people in the village. It’s no surprise that it’s the women who will be the most quickly overlooked persons in the community.

We have to go to Ethiopia. There is such a need.

But how do I go about bringing the school I work with here? We’ve never been before and there is so much legality and bureaucracy involved with bringing missionary midwives into a nation to work. And I’m not really the most likely of people to organize such a giant task.

Regardless of how I unequipped I felt though, the reality of the need outweighed my doubt in being the right person for the job. So- unsure of myself and desperate for the guidance of God, my good friend Maj and I began meetings with officials at the Ministry of Health Departments, had long talks with Visa and Immigration officers and met with several different Superintendent Doctors of the local government hospitals.  Divine appointment after divine appointment, with doors that could only be opened by God- we were able to make the right connections.

So it comes with great excitement for me to announce that the school will be pioneering a new country this year. We will head to Ethiopia right after Christmas to work for around 13 weeks in the local maternity hospitals. This is really exciting!!! Ethiopia is in great need of hope and we get to see 21 God-fearing midwife students respond to a huge need in Africa.

We will first be heading to Zambia to work for 12 weeks before flying over to Ethiopia.

Please pray that all the opportunities that were presented will come to be, and that we will have favor with immigration and permission to work.  In addition, we need to see a huge release of finances in order to go. Personally, I am trusting to see around $5,000 dollars come in. Thank you for your prayers !!