Healthcare to Save Mothers and Babies

Midwives training progressing well - Thank You! 

Last time we wrote, the new group of midwives were just about to start their training. Here is the latest from the training school in El Fasher.  Our local programme leader tells us:  "It is always very encouraging to watch these women progress.  Those ladies who were illiterate are now well on the way to being able to read and write.    All 40 midwives this season are working very hard, showing great dedication to their studies. Four of the new recruits have already assisted with a birth, and all four mothers produced healthy babies."

In Darfur, there is no healthcare in the villages. Young women get married early and face the prospect of childbirth with a traditional birth attendant who has had no training - not even the basics of hygiene and first aid. With FGM (female genital mutilation) widespread in the region, there is a high risk of obstructed labour, and in difficult cases rope delivery is the only help. Permanent damage to mother and child are common and many do not survive. Our CEO Patricia says "I can't begin to imagine how fearful these mothers must feel as the time approaches for their children to be born."

Kids for Kids has been training midwives since 2002 and these amazing women are saving lives. Our partnership approach with the Health Authority in El Fasher, the regional capital of North Darfur, means the training school we built there is well respected. We pay half the cost per midwife with the State Ministry of Health paying the other half, which demonstrates the local commitment to providing better care, and results in respect and recognition for the midwives who qualify.  We also provide our midwives with the absolute essentials - their medical kit, a solar lantern for night time deliveries, and a strong cross-bred donkey to reach patients further away, strong enough to pull the 'ambulance' to reach help quickly in an emergency.  They are very proud of their white uniform (a sari or tobe made of cotton) but especially love their leather sandals!  Midwives tell us that people stay in their villages now, because they know they have a better chance.

When our midwives return to their villages they will be amongst the most respected people in their communities. Kids for Kids' midwives are trained in baby care too.   Many mothers in desperation feed their babies unsuitably and some die because they cannot digest properly.   Because they are local women, respected in their own communities, their teaching of the dangers of FGM is believed and in our villages it is a dying tradition. 

Can you help us equip this season's new trainees and save more women and babies in Darfur? 

$3,050 pays for the full training of one midwife to save lives and teach hygiene, including her kit, uniform and leather sandals.   You will know you are saving many babies from premature death, and many young mothers from the risk of fistula.  

$612 buys a donkey ambulance to help women in labour get to hospital quickly

$245 pays for a strong cross-bred donkey to help a midwife reach her patient quickly

$230 supplies a midwife with a solar lantern for night time deliveries

Every penny helps, and your gift goes a long way in Darfur. 

Thank you for your support!

Links:

• Kids for Kids website
• Kids for Kids Facebook page for latest news

In a few weeks, our next cohort of village midwives will leave their villages for their 10 months training course and return as fully trained midwives.  They are picked to attend the course because of their commitment to helping their community and all have agreed that they will remain in the village for a minimum of four years.

For 14 years, Kids for Kids has been providing basic help right at the heart of the communities that need it.  The difference that the Village Midwives make is incalculable.   In 18 months alone the charity’s  midwives delivered 1057 healthy babies - including twins - and not one mother died in childbirth.   The midwives were successful too in referring expectant mothers to the distant hospital if they were worried about complications - and all were safely delivered of healthy babies!  There are already 108 trained Kids for Kids' village midwives working in remote villages.

Kids for Kids was asked to share the cost of funding a training school with the State Department of Health.  This ensures the support of the Government.  The training provided at this new school is unrivalled and Examiners come from Khartoum to invigilate.  

 Kids for Kids is showing that by providing a midwife who is known and trusted, encourages mothers not to continue the practise of FGM, either for themselves or for their daughters. Despite being banned by the Government of Sudan FGM is still widespread. Our midwives are convincing women in the Kids for Kids' villages to ban the practise.

 Our policy is to provide two villages midwives in each village.   There is no other support for these brave women who may have to face the difficult situation of someone they know dying during childbirth.   With two trained midwives to hand they are able to reinforce the trust the communities have learnt to place in them. The volunteers who are selected by the full community in each Kids for Kids village, to become Village Midwives, are chosen because they are bright, honest and dedicated.   They also commit to staying in the village for a minimum of four years once they are trained.  Many are young women who have young children who will be looked after whilst they are away.  The course is very tough.  The trainee girls are expected to work six days a week.  They are not allowed out of the Midwives Training Compound unescorted.  Some may be illiterate but will have been chosen because they are known to be intelligent.  They will be taught to read and write at the start of the course.  This has been hugely successful and gives new hope, not only to the women who will now have a trusted midwife close at hand, but also the newly trained midwife's family.  They have a future at last.