waiting for their children to be born..

this is where i work.

Welcome to the world baby!

Last week I had the privilege of welcoming life into the world with my own two hands!!

Hello.

I've been in Africa for six weeks now with the birth attendant school. We are fully engaged in the applied lecture phase - volunteering as midwives at a busy referall hospital in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam.

Life on the base where we live in Mwandege is simple. Very different from home - like meals being cooked everyday over firewood. The people on the YWAM base work hard and sing beautifully! I have noticed one woman, named Martha, who is YWAM staff at our base --

Martha works hard all day and into the night too. Everytime I see her she is smiling and it's obvious she does her work to please God and not men. I am thankful for the daily living example I see in her.

The songs they sing in Africa! Oh my! Often in their worship songs, they will repeat a few verses over and over and over. Songs about the character and nature of God. It's awesome!!

To see the nations of the earth coming together in unity and loving Jesus as one body is beautiful and powerful.

In my team alone we come from all over the world -- U.S. ,Canada, New Zealand, Germany, South Korea, Denmark, Australia, Holland, and Belize. It's awesome to meditate and reflect on God's character as you sing. Over and over and over.

Every Friday we stay home at the YWAM base to worship in the morning together as a class and afterward we have midwifery lectures from our WHO ( World Health Org. skills books ) -

One morning during worship, we split up into five groups and each of us wrote a little song choosing one characteristic of God as the theme. Then we came together and taught each other the simple songs and spent time worshipping God with these new songs!!It was so cool!!

I wish you could hear them!! We sang about God being the King, Healer, Anchor, Protector, and Holy. Since then we've had opportunities to keep singing those songs -- at the base where we live, in Churches here in Tanzania, and even as we drive to work - we sing.

TEMEKE HOSPITAL

Monday through Thursday,

8am - 3pm every week my team volunteers at Temeke Hospital.

The first week I was in the antenatal and postnatal ward with three other girls from my school and one staff member. Our ward is before the women go into the active stage of labour and after the women give birth. Second week I was in the ICU. Alot of time was spent cooling off babies with high fevers and teaching new mothers how to breastfeed. Some of them need help because they are recovering from C-sections. Next week I will go to the labour room --

I want to communicate the need.

There is a great need here at Temeke Hospital for more trained birth attendants.

It is a need I see every day I go in to work at the hospital.

This morning out on the street of the city I picked up a local newspaper. The front page caught my attention...

It was a picture of the antenatal and postnatal ward where I worked my first week in the hospital.

- From this article I will quote a statement made by WRATZ coordinator Rose Mlay, stressing that "the single proven approach that has reduced MMR ( maternal mortality rate ) and NMR ( newborn mortality rate ) worldwide is the presence of skilled birth attendants or health professional at every child birth. "

According to WRATZ, every single hour in Tanzania a woman dies needlessly in childbirth or from complications in pregnancy. For this reason, the organizations nationwide stragety focuses on encouraging policy makers and society as a whole to train, employ, deploy and retain adequate numbers of qualified health workers in a bid to reduce maternal and newborn deaths.

an E-MAIL that I wrote to a friend that I will share with you all.

Because I wanted to write more, but I am running out of time today..

I'm going to include an e-mail that I sent to a friend of mine with a little more information.

Enjoy!

"Oh dear Liz!!
SO happy to get an email from you :)
I'm in the city today with my team, it's our day off so we're all busy writing emails in the internet cafes. I miss you too!!
I saw a picture of zach and juli's wedding. they look so happy and beautiful together!!

I am learning so much. And not only growing in my skills as a midwife, but also growing spiritually in my relationship with God. There are challenges here, and we see hard things sometimes.. but the joy we have is so big too. and seeing the hope that jesus can bring to women in labour and the comfort he can give is awesome.

Pray for my heart liz, I want it to remain soft and hopeful. To keep joy even when the pain we see is so great. To be able to weep with the women who lose their child. Comfort and hold and pray over the baby whose mom died after labour. and keep trusting God with all my heart. Deeper and deeper I want my trust in God to go; and I want to be a midwife who makes Jesus known to the women in labour and the child that is born. Pray for more labourers to be sent into this harvest!! There is such a great need here in our hospital for trained birth attendants. The need is so great liz. The hospital is so crowded. with 4 -5 women on ONE bed, and even lying on the hospital floor. We have seen life here and we have seen death here too.

We have seen babies live that were pronounced stillborn, praise the lord!! He is able to give life again!!

I love you so much liz, my sister in Christ. Keep strong, and follow the leading of God wholeheartedly. I know God will use you in mighty ways with the deaf people. You've got such a passion and it's beautiful. I can't wait to hear YOUR stories too!! I have to go now.

Love ya' "

In Closing.

Thank you all for all your prayers and support. It means so much to me.

Perhaps God will call some of you into this harvest field. Wherever you are, remember there is HOPE. God is the author and giver of life.

Living and learning, Orissa