Wombs of the World
Dec 2019-
It has been quite a year for Wombs of the World. Thanks to your generosity, we raised over $25,000. With those funds, we purchased an ultrasound machine for the Karatu District Hospital in Karatu, Tanzania. The machine was recently delivered and a doctor at the hospital completed a sonography course and is ready to drastically improve maternal health outcomes at their hospital. THANK YOU!
As we geared up to leave this time last year (late 2018), we used your contributions to purchase and distribute over 75 water filters from SAFE Water Now (now Wine to Water). The filters are now in the clinics, home with staff members, and safely hydrating two orphanages. We sent over a hundred postpartum mothers home with bars of soap and dozens with reusable menstrual pads made by Boma la Mama Maternal Health TZ.
The impact your donation had will continue to impact families for years to come.
As we enter our second year, as requested by the local clinics where we work in Tanzania, we are working on creating a Doula Training Curriculum to keep doula care sustainable in this region. This is a huge project, and we are incredibly grateful to have incredible educators collaborating with us. Our biggest intention is to make it as culturally appropriate and relevant as possible and will spend most of January working on it with local midwives, artists, and translators.
Next, we will need donations to fund the training and the potential hiring of full-time doulas in the clinic.
*Wombs of the World is not a 501C3. We hope to be in the future, but we are mindfully taking things one step at a time. In the meantime, we hope to partner with other 501C3s to help us fund our projects and offer you a tax-deductible option for your contribution. Stay tuned.
If you wish to continue supporting our work on GoFundMe, know that we are eternally grateful for your contributions. We could never have accomplished what we have so far without you. With your encouragement, we will continue to grow and develop Wombs of the World, spread doula care, and improve maternal health one birth at a time.
Thank you so much,
Charlotte & Gabby
Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Wombs of the World
(Past information below)
MAJOR UPDATES WITH WOMBS OF THE WORLD
Leading up to our first international doula immersion program in Tanzania earlier this year, you generously helped us raise just over $6000.
This money was incredibly well spent. We partnered with SAFE WATER NOW and provided clinics and nursing staff with water filtration buckets that purify 99.9% of bacteria found in water. Over 50 of these buckets were distributed between clinics and two orphanages that we connected with.
Additionally, we partnered with local non-profit BOMA LA MAMA and provided each mama at the clinic we met over our 7 weeks with bars of soap to take home, and we distributed over 100 reusable menstrual pads to mamas.
Considering this was our first trip, we strived to create sustainable relationships for future growth. The hospital staff was sent home with filters so that they can be clean water ambassadors moving forward as SAFE WATER NOW continues to spread their buckets around the region. And by supporting BOMA, women in this region now know where they can find resources.
With your donations, we also started a fund at one of the clinics to buy a special nutritional meal to feed malnourished children. We are working towards sustainable solutions, but this is an important first step.
MOVING FORWARD
As all projects develop, it is only once we are there that we can really learn what their needs are. Over the two months, we were able to deeply connect with mothers and hospital staff and listened to their needs. We witnessed powerful women bring healthy babies into the world, and we, unfortunately, witnessed terrible loss and hardship. The most frustrating element was that we know so many of these instances could be easily avoided with better resources.
Over the last years, the Tanzanian government has been putting a lot of effort into reducing the nation’s high maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity numbers by increasing reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) services.
The Karatu District Hospital in Karatu, Tanzania repeatedly expressed that their number one need is an ultrasound machine. RMNCH services can benefit from introducing obstetric sonography, as an ultrasound is an important aspect of quality antenatal care services. With this machine, the Karatu District Hospital will be able to estimate gestational age, improve detection of fetal anomalies and multiple pregnancies, reduce the induction of labor for post-term pregnancy, and improve women’s pregnancy experiences. The KDH is a government-funded hospital and is free for all patients. This results in a very high volume of births (over 180 per month!!) and very limited resources.
Wombs of the World is working with three other organizations to improve the quality of care at this hospital. First, we are working towards acquiring an ultrasound machine. These machines usually cost around $22,000 USD. In order for this to have an actual impact, medical staff must be trained in sonography.
We are working with Dutch organizations, called Midwife Without Borders and Stitching Mount Meru that will offer three-month courses to hospital staff. We already have two highly qualified doctors set to take the course this spring in Moshi, Tanzania.
Secondly, we are continuing our work with Boma la Mama, a Tanzania non-profit that plans to open a new birth center in the region. Boma la Mama is operated by a Canadian midwife named Leesha Mafura who also teaches advanced medical courses to hospital staff in the Karatu District. Leesha is our on the ground resource supervising the proper acquisition and use of the ultrasound machine.
And lastly, we are working with international doula training organization, Doula Canada, to create a doula training course in the Karatu Region. To put this in perspective, there are three clinics in this region that serve over 400,000 people. There are over 120 different tribes that are all encouraged to give birth in hospitals as homebirth death rates are alarmingly high. The Karatu District Hospital reports over one hundred and eighty births a month, with a rotating staff of three or four nurse-midwives present.
The nurses are responsible for patient care, cleaning, patient intake, postpartum follow up, and charting. With such a high number of laboring mothers, they often feel stretched too thin to offer compassionate and gentle care to these mothers. After witnessing what we offer as doulas, which is continuous physical and emotional support, as well as suggestions to help progress labor, the nurses all demanded to have a doula at their future births. Word spread to the hospital director, and then to the Chief Medical Officer Mustafa Waziri, and they have asked us to create a doula training course to offer new job opportunities to women in their community, lighten the workload for nurses, but most importantly, offer mothers more positive birth experiences.
We are now working with the executive director of Doula Canada, Shaunacy King (a doula who worked at the hospitals in February), to create a culturally appropriate curriculum to train local women in the community to be maternal health advocates. For the first year, Wombs of the World intends to fund three full-time doulas at the clinic as a pilot program. An acceptable monthly salary is $150 USD. For three professional doulas, we need to raise $5,400 to cover their year’s salary.
This is an incredible first step in revolutionizing maternal care in this region of Tanzania. If the program is successful, it could easily be replicated in other areas. Between an ultrasound machine and doula support, women and infants have a better chance at healthier, gentler births, which will have a lasting impact on their lives, their families, and their communities.
We deeply thank you for your interest and support in this project.
For more information or question, please feel free to contact Charlotte Brielle or Gabrielle Hardin at [email redacted]. or visit our website www.wombsoftheworld.com
With Gratitude,
Charlotte & Gabby
Wombs of the World