Help Moms and Babies!

One of the great things about being in YWAM is becoming aware of the world's needs and getting the opportunity to fulfill those unmet needs.  During my first week in Australia, my team was "volunteered" to help assemble birthing kits.  We were all jetlagged, exhausted, confused because God was beginning to break our worldviews apart, and I know that I definitely didn't want to do more work after dinner.  "What the heck is a birthing kit?"  "I'm not even here for the medical ship!"  "This doesn't sound fun"  Those were a few of my COMPLETELY selfish thoughts at the time!  I was called to missions and specifically Australia and I'm already complaining in the first few days?   Nevertheless, that day I learned that God teaches in EVERY situation, that once again I'm so stinkin' prideful, and how important birthing kits are for developing nations!

Our medical ship (YWAM Medical Ships) travels to Papua New Guinea multiple times a year and delivers medical services during 1 week to 3 month stretches.  The volunteers that join are doctors, dentists, optometrists, ophthalmologists, nurses, midwives, educators, and other people, just like you and me, who want to address the needs of the poor in Papua New Guinea.  Women and their babies are at extreme risk for infection, hemorrhage, and even death in Papua New Guinea!  1 in 7 women die in childbirth! 

WE can help! WE can change the lives of countless moms and babies! A birthing kit is really easy and cheap to make!  Click here for the official Birthing Kit Foundation of Australia!  There you can read heaps of stories of how these simple kits made a big difference!

Here is what a birth kit has:

1 plastic sheet (approximately 1m x 1m or 1 yard x 1 yard) – for a clean birthing surface; to prevent mother and child from coming into contact with the floor or ground

1 bar of soap – for clean hands; to prevent the birth attendant from transmitting germs to mother and baby; for cleaning the stump to prevent infection

1 pair of plastic gloves – for clean hands; to prevent the birth attendant from transmitting germs to mother and baby

1 sterile scalpel blade – for a clean cut of the umbilical cord

3 cords/pieces of strong string (24cm or 10 inches long) – for clean ties for the umbilical cord (with an extra string included just-in-case); to prevent bleeding from the umbilical cord from mother and baby

5 gauze squares – to wipe secretions from the baby’s eyes and mothers perineum

 Here's how you can get involved!

Mail birthing kits to:
Bloggers for Birth Kits c/o Adriel Booker
YWAM Ships
PO Box 6221
Townsville, QLD 4810
Australia

Make a donation to YWAM Medical Ships (make the note "Bloggers for Birthing Kits" in the additional comments section) 100% of what is donated goes to supplies and distribution in rural Papua New Guinea!

Lastly, TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!!