Nkumba Uganda, January 6-18, 2009

HMABI partnered with Global Training Network (www.globaltrainingnetwork.org) in January 2009 to teach midwifery to pastor's wives and women at a pastor's conference in Nkumba Village near Entebbe, Uganda.   About 1000 people attended the conference, including men, women, youth and children. There were about about 200 indiginous women at the conference.  We also traveled to a remote village (Kito Village) to provide healthcare education, medical supplies and clean birth kits to about 75 women who had gathered from 4 nearby villages. 

Teaching midwifery to women will help improve maternal and neonatal outcomes in their communities, give them a tool to share the love of Christ with their neighbors, and give them a source of income.  Their leadership position in their communities will enable them to teach others the principles that we teach them...thus our efforts to help improve healthcare for women and babies will be multiplied!

Infant death is a huge issue in Uganda. There are 9 times more Ugandan infant deaths than US infant deaths.  The maternal mortality in Uganda is 435 deaths per 100,000 live births, or about 6000 women per year.  (In the United States there are about 11 deaths per 100,000 women.)  This is because of poor nutrition, infection, and lack of education regarding pregnancy and birth.  Childbirth is the #1 cause of death in Uganda. Our teaching can help reduce this. 

It is said that the current rate of HIV infection in Uganda is about 10%. The women there tell me that it is really much more. Testing and treatment are free, but people don't want to get tested.  We did a lot of teaching about HIV.  Even though it is so prevalent in their culture there is a lot of misinformation and lack of understanding about it.  This is aggravated by polygamy, lack of women's rights and  lack of education.  Women are often considered as property, and abuse of women and children is rampant.

We taught about HIV, nutrition, pregnancy, birth and preventing infections We always include question and answer times .

There were several midwives that attended our classes.  There was a midwife who was doing births in a clinic in Entebbe that had no gloves, and few medical supplies.  She was extremely grateful for the education and supplies that we were able to provide her.  

Another midwife attended all of our classes because her goal was to learn how to teach healthcare in the villages.  She went with us to Kito Village to learn what we did so that she could go to other villages to teach healthcare.   

When we gave the birth kits to each of the women, they were so excited.  They began cheering, chanting, laughing, and clapping. It was very loud and enthusiastic, and the cheering continued for a very long time. We also gave them a bar of soap, a hand towel, a piece of clothing, a scarf, a pair of underwear, and a brooch for each woman. We gave vitamins, gloves, and diapers to the women who were pregnant or had babies. It was as if we had given them gold.

We explained each item in the birth kit to them. They cheered after every one.  The items in the kits were: 1 meter of plastic, 1 yard fabric, razor blade (for cuttng the umbilical cord), cord tape (to tie the umbilcal cord), soap, nail stick (to clean under the fingernails), gloves, diaper or baby blanket, baby hat, baby tshirt or gown,

The questions that were asked were things like:  What causes bleeding while a woman is in labor?  What causes the pains after birth? What do you do if all the placenta doesn’t come out? What causes water to leak while you are in labor? What causes the sac not to break and the baby to be born in the sac? A lady described a prolapsed cervix after delivery and asked what to do about that. When should you stop bearing children? How long should you breastfeed?  Should you breast feed if you have HIV? Can you get HIV from kissing, sweat, touching, sharing food or cups? Can I share a cup with someone who has sores on their mouth? What should you do if you are having repeated miscarriages? How can we space our children?  Is birth control or family planning a sin? Give scriptures that support using natural family planning. How long are you pregnant for? We were told not to drink very much water because it will make too much water around the baby, is this true? Is it normal to bleed when I have relations with my husband? I feel something coming out of my vagina, what is it? My sister has had 12 babies die at birth, what causes this?  My cycles don’t come for 3 months and then they come again. What causes this? I have pain when I am with my husband. What causes this?

After our classes a lady told me that our teaching has changed her life. She thanked us for giving to them with no strings attached, and showing the love of Jesus to them. She said she wanted to follow the example we had set for her, and to go and love people the same way.