Since being pregnant I have a whole new appreciation and respect for my mother and ALL women who have gone through pregnancy & child birth. Pregnancy is full on and I’m not even at the birthing part yet. If you’re not familiar with my pregnancy experiences you can read about 1st trimester here and a 2nd trimester post will be soon to come! So with Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday, I want to share with you the best gift you can give your mum to thank her for bearing you and raising you!
The gift of life – show Mum you appreciate her.
The best way to show your Mum you appreciate her, is by passing on the gift of life on her behalf, so that someone else can have a great Mum too. I’ll explain more shortly, but first I want to say, whilst my pregnancy has been difficult and uncomfortable, in all honesty I am very blessed with no health problems with my baby and some of the best health care in the world supporting me. I wouldn’t even consider death being a result of child birth. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all women. In Uganda, 1 woman in 49 dies in child birth. To put this in context, in Australia, the statistic is 5 women per 100,000 .
How can we help prevent death during childbirth?
Infections play a large role in death during child birth. This is largely because many women (eg. half of all women in Uganda) give birth alone, without the guidance of a skilled health worker who could inform them of the need for clean conditions. How frightening would it be to be without a nurse, if it was your first time having a child? Or if you had any complications? So if we can help reduce infections, we can help save women’s and children’s lives.
Annette Malugo, 38, who recently birthed Robert Mukisa on February 20, 2014. “For me, for people like me, we never thought going to the hospital was important,” says Annette. “I had two of my children at home. Matthew [World Vision trained health worker] told me…to go to the hospital. When you deliver from the hospital, you deliver well. The doctors care for you. They help you deliver. If you are at home, it is terrible. You can bleed too much. If you get complications, the baby can die and no one can care for you.”
Annette’s sister, Mukamazima, had a terrible experience at home. “She overbled and collapsed,” says Annette. “She was with her husband. She died.” Now Annette looks after one of the six children Mukamazima left behind. Matthew is one of 9094 VHTs trained by World Vision Uganda.
Vision Sisters
World Vision have come up with a program called Vision Sisters, which aims this year to provide 60,000 birthing kits and training health workers. If you raise over $1000 you can hold a birthing kits assembly event. So this is my goal, but if I don’t reach it, the money raised will still help train health workers and the much needed birthing kits – someone else will just put them together. I will keep you updated, or you can watch my fundraising efforts or give here. All donations are tax deductible.
What’s in a birthing kit?
A clean birthing kit is so basic that it costs less than a cup of coffee ($3). Yet it can help prevent infection and save lives. Each birthing kit contains six items needed to ensure a clean delivery:
Gifting a birthing kit
You can give Mum a Sister gift this Mother’s Day . Write in a card how much you value her and that you wanted to pass on that blessing she has been by providing life to the mother of another child. You can purchase:
- A $30 Sister Gift will help provide six clean birthing kits, and contribute $12 to help train health workers
- A $50 Sister Gift will help provide ten clean birthing kits, and contribute $20 to help train health workers
- A $100 Sister Gift will help provide twenty clean birthing kits, and contribute $40 to help train health workers so women and children in countries like Uganda can access maternal, newborn and child health services.
So please, give generously on behalf of your Mum this Mother’s Day. You can purchase your sister gift here (this is a tax deductible donation) and help me reach my target of $1000 so that I can get a group together and partake in a packing day!
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Amy Darcy
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