I was asked recently if I could think of anything good that came out of a disaster. In the 26 years that my husband and I have worked in the Philippines with Mercy In Action, we have been through so many disasters that did damage, from typhoons to floods to fires, and even a shipwreck. But in 2013 we responded to one of the biggest global disasters when Super Typhoon Yolanda hit the coast of the Philippines. And have been part of the recovery process ever since, thanks to compassionate, caring donors like you.
The one positive thing that came out of that disaster was the world got to see the wonderfully resilient spirit of the Philippine people; it really shone throughout news coverage of that tragedy. And personally, we received grant money toward capacity building after the storm, and the local midwives really took advantage of that and were eager to learn new updated best-practices to be better at what they do – caring for pregnant women, midwifing births, and keeping newborns healthy.
As part of the recovery effort since 2014, Mercy In Action has brought various trainings to the local midwife community affected by the disaster. Within the first year, Mercy In Action sponsored and taught a five-month course in how birth facilities can keep all 10 steps of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative: 10 Steps to optional maternity services. In 2015 we invited Nerissa, the midwife we sponsor, to a week-long training in Olongapo on maternity care. Last summer Rose and I taught on Disaster First Aide for health care workers.
This coming month, we will bring a new set of trainings to the Tacloban area, a training in Helping Mothers Survive and Helping Babies Breathe. Two Mercy In Action College of Midwifery graduates will be helping teach with Nerissa, and all area midwives will once again be invited. Rebuilding is a crucial step of disaster management; Mercy In Action is helping rebuild a strong midwifery community to help strengthen maternal and child health in the former disaster zone.
Thank you for the part you play as a Global Giving donor!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
