Mother
By Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones
Dear Friends of MLI,
Mother’s Day holds a special significance for us at MLI. Truly it is mothers, both physical and spiritual, who “adorn the world with the richest colors of love.” Each of us is so grateful to our biological mother, our spiritual mothers and to all women whose dedication to God, to life and to the good of others is a shining star bringing light to the world. Thank you!
In honor of the mothers in our lives, this year for Mother’s Day we offer you a collaboration between Jeff James, MLI executive director and a gifted photographer, and me, Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones, founder and president. While Jeff expresses his faith and perspective through his camera, I find my voice in the power of words. We worked together to create an art book to grace your home, and to help you understand the motivation behind our work at MLI. We can send a book to you or anyone in your life with an eye for beauty and a contemplative spirit. You can order your book here:
Our work for the cause of mothers worldwide continues. In our Safe Passages training in January, we heard first-hand of the challenges that exist for so many during the birthing process.
In Uganda, it is estimated that 16 women die in labor or childbirth each day.
In rural areas, so often burdened with poverty and a poor maternal health care infrastructure, a woman bleeding from an obstetrical hemorrhage requiring surgery and blood transfusion may wait hours for transport to a hospital. . . and in that interlude may go into shock and die.
Dr. Jim Linn works with a team of Ugandan clinicians on methods to stop bleeding during a uterine hemorrhage.
Many health facilities have dedicated and talented physicians and midwives but lack basic resources for recognizing and treating obstetrical emergencies: working blood pressure cuffs, blood typing and crossmatching, anesthesia for Cesarean sections and resuscitation equipment for both mothers and newborns.
A delivery room, rural Ethiopia.
Through your generosity and support we were able to not only provide training to 102 physicians, midwives and nurses, but also provide life-saving equipment to 34 different hospitals and health centers providing obstetrical care.
After our training in Gulu, Uganda, we held a facilitator training workshop at St. Joseph Family Life Center on our “Journey of a Thousand Days” program, which focuses on providing a safe and healthy family environment for a child in those first 1000 days of life.
Masaka, Uganda – Mariam and Georgina at the St. Joseph Family Life Center
Among the lead facilitator couples were James and Miriam Gichuki. They were recently blessed with a child --- a beautiful girl they named Georgina (I like the sound of that name!). While Miriam’s labor and delivery went well, another woman in the adjoining room died at nearly the same time that Georgina was being born. She had come in from a distant health center after prolonged, obstructed labor and was bleeding heavily. There was a delay in getting blood and given her degree of shock, she died while in surgery. James spoke of how sad it was – to have in their room the cries and joy of a newborn child and in the adjoining ward the weeping of a family whose beloved wife and mother had just died.
We left Uganda with a heart both uplifted and broken. What an inspiration to be with our Ugandan colleagues, working side by side with them towards our shared goal of improving obstetrical care and reducing maternal deaths. We saw in one another’s eyes a sense of solidarity, a coming together for a greater purpose. At the same time, we heard the stories that break your heart – of those
maternal and newborn deaths that “didn’t have to be.”
So many of these stories begin with “If”:
If only we had an ambulance to get women to the hospital sooner.
If only we had ultrasound, we could have recognized there were twins and the first one was breech.
If only we could have recognized her shock sooner.
A heart uplifted and broken carries with it another element – resolve.
As the obstetrical caregivers left the training, they uniformly spoke of their determination to improve their quality of care. Our facilitators from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania resolved to expand their programs even further, promoting stronger marriages and healthier family life in places where access to resources for struggling families is often unheard of.
At Maternal Life, we too have a deeper sense of resolve. We are doubling our efforts to raise funds and awareness about the lack of resources for family-centered services in the developing world and the life-giving programs MLI offers.
As a part of that effort, we have put together a book: “'I Want, I Choose...' Prayers To A Merciful God,”
With compelling photographs taken by Jeff and meditative poems by George.
The book will make a great gift for Mother’s Day and for any other special occasion!
All proceeds from the sale of “I Want, I Choose...” will go to support the work of MLI.
We know we can count on you to put your order in today and support us for another Safe Passages!
Thank you for all your tremendous support – it truly honors the gift of mothers to the world.
~Hillary, Jeff, and George