Dear Friends, Family, Clients and possibly those I may have never met,
I will be going to Haiti to volunteer my time and skills to a midwifery training project with Midwives for Haiti. This is something I have desired to do for quite a while and have decided that now is the time!
The lack of skilled obstetrical workers makes Haiti the most dangerous place in the Western Hemisphere to be pregnant or a newborn. In rural Haiti, 75% of births are not attended by a skilled birth attendant and 7% of children (1 out of 14) die before reaching age 5. The need to improve maternal and child health is great.
Midwives for Haiti has been working since 2004 to train nurses to be skilled birth attendants. Graduates work throughout the country, mostly in rural communities where need for their skills is greatest. The organization is well-known and respected in Hinche, has the support of the local population, and works in partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health. I have attached the link to the organization’s website which provides a wealth of information about this inspiring and ambitious project. http://www.midwivesforhaiti.org
I am writing to ask you to become a part of the Midwives for Haiti team by providing a donation to me to help support this life-saving work. Haitian midwives need medical equipment and medications to provide life-saving health care in rural areas. For example, each midwife needs tools that can be sterilized, a steady supply of sterile gloves, basic obstetrical medications, and textbooks that have been translated into Creole. Your donations will be used to assist in the costs of a translator for me, program fees and the much needed supplies that I will be bringing. A donation in any amount large or small is greatly appreciated and will be judiciously used. Thanks so much for your support. I will be taking a camera and will post photographs of the trip for all of you to see your donations in action.
Thank you friends! Jill
