Cumpio Clinic was rebuilt after being destroyed in Super Typhoon Haiyan (known as Yolanda in the Philippines.) They have a patient named Jerrylyn. She lived at the base of a mountain in Tanauan with her husband and two boys. On November 8 2013, the storm surges of Typhoon Yolanda swept her house away. She was 5 months pregnant at the time. When the waters came, they lost hold of their older boy and he died in the fast moving currents. He was 2 years old. Five months later in March 2014 she gave birth to a baby boy in a Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) medical tent.
Then on Oct 22 2015 she delivered her fourth baby here at the clinic, her first girl. Both mother and baby are healthy and well! She was very happy and thankful that she was able to deliver here at the clinic wherein she was treated with respect and dignity.
Most patients who come to our birth center to give birth lost children in Typhoon Yolanda. Often they are very poor. If patients don’t have money for food, we feed them for the entire 24 hour postpartum stay. Sometimes this means preparing a meal in the middle of the night after a birth. But Jerrylyn and the hundreds of other mothers who’ve delivered at Cumpio Clinic are examples of resiliency and strength in the wake of tragedy.
Clinic updates as of October 2015 (since rebuilding and opening September 2014)
Births- 209
Prenatal-435
Postpartum visit- nearly 200
One of our donors in the disaster recovery wrote an email this week saying: "My thanks to you for the incredible work that Mercy in Action did...was one of the most personally gratifying things I have done ... am so glad that Global Giving introduced us and we were able to work with you on this! "
Thank you for your part in helping us help Cumpio Clinic open again to serve their community. The anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda is coming up; On November 5th Global Giving will hold a Matching Funding day, matching all donations 100% to help with the rebuilding. Would you be willing to give a generous donation on that day, to further help Cumpio Clinic move forward after the storm?
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"Hi ma'am Vicki, i received a package, beautiful baby blankets. nice gifts for the patients. By the way such a busy day for us 6 babies in 24 hrs. Such a blessing and fulfilling job. Love Nerissa"
This is the letter I received this past week from the head midwife and owner of the birth center and clinic Mercy In Action rebuilt after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated Leyte Island in the Philippines.
With the help of Global Giving and all our wonderfully generous donors, Mercy In Action was able to not only rebuilt her private clinic, but also her home. And now she is busy again, as you can see, and fulfilled in being able to serve her community with such a vital service. Six babies in 24 hours! it is a mini miracle in itself, for those of us who remember that her clinic and home were smashed beyond recognition in the typhoon that made her and thousands of her neighbors homeless. And yet, babies come, and life goes on, and now there is a safe place for these babies to be welcomed into the world.
As Leyte island rebuilds, lets not forget them. There is still a long way to go, and much work to do. Supporting free clinics like Nerissa's is essential for families that still do not have homes, jobs, or food security. When they are pregnant, at least they know where to go for good care, totally free, thanks to the support of Mercy In Action and all our donors and supporters.
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With your generous help, Mercy In Action rebuilt an entire clinic/birth center that had been smashed to rubble in the disaster zone.
You remember how devastated Leyte Island was last year after the largest storm in history ripped through the Philippines. Known as Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines) this storm destroyed all the hospitals and clinics for hours around the epicenter of this terrible disaster.
So we chose one birth center to rebuild from the ground up. It is now complete, open for business, and truly one of the nicest birth centers in the entire Philippines! Cumpio Clinic is well furnished, well stocked, well staffed, and so full of love and gratitude from the patients who are all survivors of the 2013 Super Typhoon that wiped out much of Leyte Island.
Since Cumpio Clinic opened the new doors last fall, 102 babies have been born in the newly rebuilt birth center, 238 prenatal exams have been done in the outpatient clinic, and over 100 home visits have been made to postpartum mothers and babies.
These attached pictures tell the story of what is possible when people come together and respond quickly, compassionately, effectively, and efficiently following a natural disaster.
This recent email from Nerissa to Vicki speaks volumes about the profound effect this project had on one typhoon survivor:
"Dear Ma'am Vicki,
Thank you. Indeed i am so very happy and that i am so thankful for all the donors. You just didn't rebuild the clinic but you gave back my life, hope, the zest and will to live and the most important my faith in God.
You really made an impact to us.
I love you with all my heart.
Nerissa"Heartfelt thanks to our Global Giving donors who made this project possible.
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"Dear ma'am Vicki and Sir Scott,
We will not be tired of saying THANK YOU.
Love from Alexander and Nerissa"
This is the email I received this morning, as Nerissa and Alexander begin building a second floor onto the clinic and birthing home Mercy In Action rebuilt for them last year with help from Global Giving. This will now be a home for them and their two young girls, who were so horribly traumatized by the destruction of their home in the Super Typhoon over a year ago. Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, and declared to be the world's strongest storm to make landfall ever, smashed their home and their family run clinic and birth center into a pile of rubble last November 8, 2013.
When we offered help last year, Nerissa asked for the clinic first, With your help, we opened the Cumpio Clinic again in September of 2014. Nerissa and her family wanted to be able to serve the community with maternity medical care, before they even began to hope that they themselves would have a house again.
And so they have been living in a tent or crowded temporary housing for the past 15 months.
With your help, Mercy In Action made an immediate disaster response 15 months ago, setting up tents to deliver babies and treat wounds, food programs to get urgently needed nutrition to pregnant and breastfeeding women, and trauma healing ministry to the survivors, especially the young children. Then, again with your help, we began to help rebuild the health care structures damaged or destroyed, and trained and equipped midwives to get back on their feet. In December of last year, we distributed new birth bags to a dozen local area midwives.
But I always felt the disaster work we were called to do was not over yet.
Today we begin building the second floor of the beautiful clinic into a permanent home for the midwife we have come to love and respect so much, Nerissa Cumpio.
It is my turn to say to all of you supporters and donors, "I will not be tired of saying THANK YOU" to you! Thanks be to God for such good friends when the storms of life hit....
--
Vicki Penwell, LM,CPM, MSM, MA
Founder and Executive Director
Mercy In Action Vineyard, Inc
www.mercyinaction.org
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Dear wonderful supporters,
GlobalGiving has been so very supportive and helpful to those of us working in the disaster zone caused by the world's biggest storm to ever make landfall last November 8th in the Philippines. You are know about Typhoon Haiyan, called Yolanda in our country.
Now they have a donor who is matching all donations 100% while funds last. As of today, there is still $22,000 in this fund, just waiting to go to one of the worthy projects GlobalGiving supports. Mercy In Action qualifies!
Mercy In Action is eligible for this matching money, but we need your help. If you were planning to make a generous year- end donation, would you consider doing it now so that your money can go TWICE AS FAR?
Last November through January, we delivered babies in tents and cared for over 3,000 pateints with wounds. This September, we completed the rebuilting of a clinic and birth center. This coming December, I will be going back down to ground zero to give birth equipment and life-saving supplies to 12 area midwives, who with the help of Mercy In Action are getting back on their feet.
Help us help them even more, by giving a generous donation now that will be matched 100%. God bless you as we again enter the Holiday Season, this year with much more hope for the future.
"Whoever is kind to the needy honors God" Proverbs 14:31
Love,
Vicki
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