SOLAR POWER!
We have water! We are so thankful for how quickly you acted to provide solar power for the City on a Hill well. It was less than two weeks between the time we asked for your help and the time the solar power system was installed. That’s AMAZING! The hundreds of families on the hills above Williamson are so very grateful. It’s hard to express in words how blown away we are by your generosity.
The young woman pictured below (right) was especially grateful as she washes clothes for a living and collects water several times per day. Thank you for being a blessing in her life and in the lives of so many others. Mési!
HEALTHY MOTHERS + HEALTHY BABIES
While we wait for official certification for the new maternal health program, Magdala (our WWV midwife) has been working hard to train local matrons in Williamson and Luly. Training the local birth attendants will promote much safer home-deliveries in the area.
The matrons were invited to a 22-week training program and the class is packed! The first few weeks of training have focused on the importance of hand-washing and hygiene, as well as warning signs of high-risk deliveries. Because some of the local matrons are illiterate, the training includes songs and pictures as reminders of these important learning points.
Each matron who comes to the training is committed to learning and understands that what they learn can save the lives of mothers and babies. One of the songs about warning signs of high-risk deliveries talks about two wooden crosses. The reality in Haiti is that too many mothers and babies die during childbirth, but your support of this new program is helping to change this reality.
We are so thankful for your generosity that has made these trainings possible!
This Song of Commitment is a reminder of the high calling of a matron in Haiti to serve mothers & babies. The matrons sing this song to open each training session and also pray for God’s wisdom to help in their calling.
Song of Commitment
“Let’s do our job well, let’s follow the counsel of those who are wise.
Let’s walk to the trainings, for the lives of mothers and children.
A good matron has to be clean; a good matron has to be healthy.
Let’s keep the tools clean, lest we sow disease.
We promise to follow the rules, for the lives of mothers and children.”
Magdala also likes to have a little fun during the trainings – like the race to put on gloves! When a baby is coming quickly, how fast can you put on your gloves?!
A special thanks to everyone who has donated to the medical center and the Healthy Mothers + Healthy Babies program over the last several years. It’s wonderful to see the impact it will make in these communities. Thank you for being a part of that!