This post is sponsored as part of a partnership with Cuso International. As always, all opinions are my own.
This time 5 years ago, I was awaiting the arrival of Clayton. His due date was Dec 25th, 2012. My pregnancy had been amazing, as was my pregnancy with my oldest boy, 9 1/2 years earlier. Honestly, the only fear I had going into the week he was due, was hoping for good weather. Guess what!?! He arrived late, on December 30th, in the middle of a snow storm! Our neighbour helped dig us out, flagged down a plow and the city plow helped us get to the main road. We arrived at the hospital with only minutes to spare, he was born 20 minutes after arriving.
Here in Canada, we’re fortunate to have access to amazing facilities, doctors, midwives and other health professionals. Mother’s in other parts of the World are not so lucky.
In countries like Ethiopia, that isn’t always the case. In Pawe, a small community in rural Ethiopia, mothers like Abeba have their babies in health centres that aren’t equipped for unexpected circumstances. Simple challenges that seem like a small hiccup in the labour process here, can lead to tragedy. The health professionals don’t always have specialized training, and infection and life threatening complications are common.
~ Cuso International
A Canadian midwife is making a difference
Jennica, a midwife from BC, volunteered to live in Pawe to help share her skills and knowledge with the doctors and midwives at Pawe Health Centre. She worked with the doctors and midwives to use monitors to help identify babies in distress. Digital monitoring is so common place here, you’d probably have a hard time finding someone who wasn’t monitored for at least part of her labour at the hospital. So, it’s easy to forget that this simple process can mean the difference between a life saved and a life lost.
Trained volunteers like Jennica save lives
I recently learned about Cuso International, a charity that has been sending volunteers around the world to help communities thrive and grow. The Maternal Health program, like the one in Pawe, is helping to save the lives of moms and little ones that are home with their families this holiday. With more training and better hospital practices, health workers in Pawe can recognize danger signs earlier, treat them faster, and help more moms deliver their babies safely.
You can help too!
Here is a wonderful way to give back this holiday season! While you’re sharing this time with your family, you can help ensure that mothers around the world can do the same. The Cuso CAN Fund was established to give you the chance to support Cuso International’s high priority maternal and child health projects in Ethiopia, Benin, Tanzania, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In all these places, pregnant and labouring moms need the kind of trained, compassionate care you had when you delivered your children. Help send Canadian medical volunteers into communities to save the lives of moms and babies.
You can connect with Cuso International on social media through Facebook, Instagram,and Twitter, and read more about what they do.