the birth attendants

Hey! Notice some exciting changes to my blog.

On the right side there’s a white box that allows you to enter in your email and have my newest posts sent directly to your inbox!

Also, there’s a new donation option through paypal. You can now monthly "subscribe" (this means make monthly financial support to me) by clicking on the link and entering in your debit/credit information. You can also still use the “donate” button to just make a one time donation. Paypal wont charge you anything additional for using its services.

And while we’re on the topic, other ways of donating is through the organization I work with Youth With A Mission Perth. Here’s the link;

https://www.ywamperth.org.au/007/payonline.asp

On “step 1” it asks you to identify who the donation is for. Here you would just click on staff and enter my name

Sumithra learning how to use a stethoscope

And if you aren’t internet savy, but you know my parents you can always write a check, make it out to my name and hand it to my mom. She would be happy to put it in my bank account for me. (thanks mom!)

 














We are still in the lecture phase over here in Australia. This means that the students are in class 5 days a week learning how to be midwives in developing nations. More specifically they are learning how to be midwives who serve God first and how to use this skill in missions as a form of evangelism. Its really incredible to see people learning simple skill that will literally save lives. And even more than that, its so exciting to see these women getting Gods heart for the nations, His heart for motherhood and how He intended pregnant women to be treated, His heart for women and children, for the restoration of families, His heart for justice. They are learning how to pray, how to intercede, how to cultivate hope and faith in places where there seems to be none. With each lecture we have, every quiz that’s given, every workshop we practice in- God is preparing them and releasing them more and more into their calling. It’s a privilege to be apart of that. These are some incredible students. I am honored to work alongside and help lead these women as they prepare to go. They have left their homes, their countries, their families, their jobs and any security they have had to say yes to God and yes to responding to the desperate need of missionaries and healthcare workers for women, children, and families around the world.

An Aussie midwife teaching the students how to palpate a pregnant belly

Each of the students are trusting God for around $8,500 dollars in order to spend 8 months on the mission field. I am trusting for $5,500 in order to take them. (I’m going for a shorter time than them)  

If you would be interested in helping us get there you can use any of the payment options listed above. I have 5 weeks to see this money come in. If you know any businesses, organizations, or fundraisers that could help us get to Zambia, Ethiopia, and India please let me know. I need your help!

Bless you!


I am posting a link to a video that a previous Birth Attendant student made. It gives a bit more of a picture of some of the work that we will be doing. Feel free to share it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK1pmSWZ2RU

 

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 !!