CleanBirth - Saving Mothers and Babies in Laos

CleanBirth.org - Donate $5 Saves 2 Lives

Meet Chanpheng, a district nurse at a rural clinic in Laos

Red hat baby and NurseJPGChanpheng, on the right, is one of the first nurses that CleanBirth.org trained.  Our volunteer Natalie interviewed her to learn what she thought about the Village Volunteer trainings.  Here’s what she had to say:

“My name’s Chanpheng. I represent nurses who distribute the birth kits. Are volunteers needed, you ask?

Yes, the volunteers are needed in every village because they are our assistants who collect the number of pregnant women, the number of women who give birth and number of deaths of women and new born babies during delivery. They are the ones who help mothers taking care themselves, of their babies and tell them about the benefits of breastfeeding.”

Let’s keep funding these assistants for nurses who cannot physically be with mothers who do not venture to the clinic for delivery or pre/post-natal care.   The Volunteers are the eyes and ears of the nurses.  They are best suited to help mothers have safe pregnancies, deliveries and care for their newborns.

Meet Yai, a Mom who used our Clean Birth Kits

Mum baby red hat

Yai, a mom of 4, lost a baby last year.  From infection.  She lives in Tahoy District in Laos, where now she has access to Clean Birth Kits.

“In the past, my newborn and I got an infection.  The baby was not health for two months.  Then she died.  After using a birth kit for this baby, we are safe and did not get an infection. The cord was clean and dried well.  Before I used bamboo to cut the cord and string I found in the house.  That’s why my child got an infection. When I took him to see the doctor, he couldn’t help. It was too late.”

We are giving Yai, the volunteers who help her and the nurse in her area the resources they need to make birth infection-free.

For $5 Yai had a safe birth.  $5 Saves 2 Lives.

 

Meet Loy, a CleanBirth.org Village Volunteer

Tahoy volunteerThis is Loy.  She is a midwife in Tahoy District. She was trained to use and distribute Clean Birth Kits by one of our nurses in September 2013.  She talked to CleanBirth.org’s volunteer, Natalie about her experience with the kits:

 

“My name is Loy.  I am a midwife in the village.  I help the mothers during pregnancy and when they give birth.  I have been a midwife for two years.  After the training by the nurse in September, I helped two mothers give birth. After using the kit, the mother and child are clean.  It’s convenient and easy to use.  We need more kits.  Without the kits, the mother and child get infection and get sick.”

This year CleanBirth.org’s crowd funding campaign will be working toward training more women like Loy and getting them birth kits.  Our goal is to give local women the knowledge and supplies needed to make birth safer for their neighbors.

Doing it for the moms…

Tahoy MothersSometimes, I get bogged down in the to-do list type stuff.  Even though the cause is so near and dear to my heart, some days I think less about the moms we serve and more about fundraising or the logistics of getting kits and training materials to Laos.

That’s ok.  That’s my job.  But today it was nice to take a minute and look into the women’s faces.

Natalie, CleanBirth.org volunteer extraodinare, who oversaw the resupply of kits and attended a Village Volunteer training in December, sent this picture of 3 moms who used the kits we supplied.

Looking at the faces of these women, seeing the bundles wrapped safely in their arms, I remember that this is why I do what I do.

This is why so many people have gotten involved, through volunteering and donations.

These women are faced with real danger when they give birth.  They have many older children depending on them.  We need to give them education and supplies to make each birth as safe as we can.

That’s why we do what we do.  That’s why you give what you can give.  We thank you.  They thank you!

 

Read about us on World Moms Blog

Here’s an excerpt from my article, appearing in today’s World Mom’s Blog:

The training of the last group, Village Volunteers, is particularly exciting.  The nurses we train about Clean Birth Kits and safe birthing practices, have begun passing their knowledge to women from each remote village.

The nurses explain how to use and distribute the Clean Birth Kits, as well as how to track their use with a picture data sheet.  They cover topics like safe pregnancy, the importance of having a partner during delivery (many women birth alone) and the importance of exclusive breastfeeding.

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Photo provided by CleanBirth.org

A government representative who attended the Village Volunteer training in December 2013 was impressed and said, “We need more of these trainings throughout the Province.”  That kind of validation from the government isessential to scaling up the project.

Read the whole post here http://www.worldmomsblog.com/2014/01/07/social-good-cleanbirth-yale-university-empower-local-nurses/

 

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