Last week, SI President Alice Wells returned from a trip to Papua New Guinea, the location of the current December 10th Appeal: Birthing in the Pacific. She reports back from her visit. 

Here we are, in 2012, with all the wonders of
modern medicine and yet there are still more than 1,000 women each day,
globally, dying due to complications with pregnancy and childbirth. 

Julie Marsaban, a Soroptimist from SI South West Pacific says
this about women dying needlessly:

“This is like two jumbo jets full of women
crashing each day….or 41 women dying every hour.  However, if a small 12-passenger plane
crashes, the news is broadcast around the globe.” 

More than 90%of maternal deaths occur in Africa
and Asia where the majority of women die from severe bleeding, infections,
eclampsia, and obstructed labor

Let me give you some facts about giving birth in
Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG has the second highest maternal and infant mortality rate
in Asia.  What is shocking is that 88-98%
of these deaths could be prevented.  I
recently spent a week in PNG and had the opportunity to meet Soroptimist
members in Lae, Ramu and Port Moresby.  I
was able to see and hear firsthand stories from Soroptimists and community
members about this wonderful project.

The two Birthing in the Pacific programme coordinators, Janet Askern and May
Lamont, deserve all the credit in the world for the time, personal resources
and energy they have spent getting this wonderful programme off the ground. They have worked closely with the three
Soroptimist clubs in PNG and they have developed close relationships with key community and city leaders in
the health community throughout the country. 
The dedication and passion they have for this programme is commendable!

Each club is tackling this devastating problem
in its own way, meeting the needs of the community and working with the local
health authorities.  The clubs in Ramu
and Lae are providing more of a focus on training village birth attendants as a
first course of action.  They are being
trained to help the mothers give birth but to also recognise potential medical
issues with the pregnancy so that mothers can get to a birthing centre to
prevent further complications.  In PNG, 70% of
women rely on traditional Village Birthing Attendants (VBAs), mothers and
relatives to attend the birth of their babies. 
Only 30% actually get to a hospital.

Here is a graphic picture of what these women
experience when having a child. IF they go to a birthing center,
in almost all cases no food is provided so the women have to bring their own food.
 When there are no more beds, women will
be in labour on the floor.  There is
no waiting area for spouses or family members… they have to sit on the ground
outside.  Most birthing centers have no
water fountains.  And I won’t even talk about
computers or computer technology!

However, in Ramu, a group of ex-patriots, whose
spouses work for the local sugar cane company, have formed a committee to
prepare food and deliver it to the local birthing center.  What a difference this has made for patients!

While in Ramu, May Lamont and I got to meet the
first class of 15 village birth attendants who were trained several months ago
by Serah (midwife), and Maggie (community health worker), both of whom are
Soroptimists.  Founding club member, Judy
Muliap, was a key member in getting this training set up.  What an experience!  We were greeted with singing, drumming, and
dancing….of course, I had to join in! 
The VBAs proudly wore their graduation uniforms they had been given
(bright blue polo shirts with yellow collars).

Village chiefs selected the women who would be trained.  Ramu worked with the Health Dept. for
approval and held this training for these fifteen women over a period of two
weeks.  A thrill for May and for me was
getting to hear their stories!  One of
the women told us that while this training was taking place, a landslide occurred
near one of the villages, burying many of their houses in mud and making it
even more difficult to get to Ramu. 

 

There were three women in this village who had to walk more
than 3 miles just to get to the river each day. 
They would then cross the river on foot, holding their dry clothes over
their heads, trying to stay upright in that swift current.  When they got to the other side, they would
climb up this steep hill, change into dry clothes, hide their wet clothes in
the sugar cane field, and walk another three miles to the Health Centre in
Ramu.  Talk about dedication!  They made this round trip every day for two
weeks because they all had young children back in their villages.  At the end of the day, we took these women to
the river.  I wanted to actually see what
they had to do each day to get to the village. 
As they crossed that wide river, holding their clothes over their heads
and waving back at us, all I could do was wave back with tears streaming down
my face.  Their courage, their
determination, their pride in completing their training was overwhelming.

At this same meeting with the VBAs, a man came up to me and
told me that he was a teacher in his village and that his wife was one of the
Village Birth Attendants.  He had a smile
from ear to ear telling me how proud he was of his wife and what a difference
she was making for the women in their village. 
Not a single mother has died since she has had this training.

In fact, every mother has survived with these 15 trained
VBAs!  A remarkable achievement.  Three of them even successfully delivered a
breach baby, something which would not have been achieved several months ago. Serah and Maggie have done an outstanding job in training
these women.  They stay in contact with
them and will continue to have ongoing meetings with them to continue their
training. 

While in Lae, the Soroptimists there hosted a membership
recruitment event and had 70 people attend, more than 50 prospective
members.  Members shared their stories
about why they joined Soroptimist International and the members shared a project that they
have created that will support Birthing in the Pacific.  These prospective members were very excited
about this project and expressed a lot of interest in participating. Sharing your service projects with prospective members can be a real
incentive for them to want to join, particularly if they can connect
emotionally to what you are doing!

The
Lae Soroptimists have written a very comprehensive proposal to train Village
Birth Attendants in the Huon Peninsula of the Morobe Province.  Because birthing data statistics are very
unreliable in PNG, part of their plan is to collect baseline data of maternal
births and deaths in this province.  Getting
to some of these villages will be daunting: 
they will have to go in by helicopter, then travel by raft and foot for
1-3 days, just to get to the village!  They
have identified key people in each village with whom they will be working.  In addition, they have been awarded a grant
from Aus Aid to help support their project.

The Soroptimists in Port Moresby are taking this programme in
a slightly different direction.  Again, they are
focusing on the needs of their city. 
They are currently forming a committee which will work with two
nursing midwives at the Port Moresby General hospital and help to support
the midwives professional development programme there.  They have developed some key relationships
with the medical community in Port Moresby, which will be very helpful.

The bottom line is this…..your donations are saving
lives!  Your donations to Birthing in the
Pacific are truly making a difference. 
What was very thrilling to me is that the name Soroptimist International is well known
throughout this country…in Lae, in Ramu, and in Port Moresby.  These Soroptimist women in Lae, Ramu, and
Port Moresby are making a difference, one mother and baby at a time!

Find out more about Birthing in the Pacific. Please send all club donations to your Federation HQ.