It's 1am

I am currently visiting the main school of Newlife, in Davao City (Davao City Philippines for more information) for a month. Life here is much different. There are 20 students (I think) and the clinic has about 150 births per month (the clinic where I live has 20-25 births per month). A high volume of birth ='s shift work. I have not done shift work since 2008 when I worked as a CNA (certified nurses aid) at a local nursing home in my home town. At the nursing home I mainly worked the 3 to 11 shift, here we work all three shifts, but because of our school load only 3 shifts a week. This is why it is 1am and I am writing a blog :)
Here in Davao I am enjoying spending time with my classmates; We went to a movie, ate ice cream and laughed. Davao is a much larger city than where I live. You can call in McDonalds or pizza, there is many shopping malls, one of which feels like you have reentered America. The ocean is close by and I hope that I will at least be able to stick my toes in before I head back to Tabuk. However, most of my time here will be spent on shift, working on my assignments or in class.

Please continue to pray for me as I work hard at the tasks God has given me. Pray that God would give me the wisdom to learn how to be a good midwife, to retain the information I am studying, and to be able to do my assignments well & on time. Pray that I would be a blessing to my fellow students and the women I serve. Pray that I would make time to study the Word and that I will be filled up to over flowing with His love.

Also, please continue to keep Sudan in your prayers. The two countries are far from stable and many people, at this time most from the borders are deeply suffering.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support! *Tianne*

Need and opportunity

For this weeks blog I want to give you an idea of the need and opportunities of being a trained Christian midwife.     

For every woman who dies in childbirth, around 20 more suffer injury, infection or disease – approximately 10 million women each year.  Most of these deaths are avoidable and could be prevented by having a trained birthing attendant available.

Every minute, at least one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth – that means 529,000 women die every year according to the World Health Organization.

'While motherhood is often a positive and fulfilling experience, for too many women it is associated with suffering, ill-health and even death. The major direct causes of maternal morbidity and mortality include haemorrhage, infection, high blood pressure, unsafe abortion, and obstructed labour.'

A big part of Newlife's vision is to train and equip interested students to start their own birthing centers in other third-world countries. Our midwifery program will provide each graduate with the necessary skills and knowledge to practice anywhere in the world. Being a midwife opens many doors to countless opportunities.

Our school mission and vision has been cast after spending more than a decade advancing this perspective.

We strongly believe that a trained Christian midwife has the capacity to be a signifiant agent in serving the World Christian Movement. Our strategic vision is to see our graduates use their new skills to access places around the world where she is fully capable of transcending barriers to the Gospel message.

The world is changing every day and doors are closing to the typical western missionary. However, those doors remain very open to health care specialists especially in light of the global challenges of inadequate maternal and newborn health care.

The beauty of midwifery within the context of cross-cultural Christian missions is simply this; there are no cultural, religious or political barriers to expressing the compassion and mercy of Jesus Christ demonstrated through the hands of a Christian midwife. This reality is enhanced by the simple fact that it extends out to the family of the midwife's patient and subsequently grants access of her Christian witness into the patient's home. This exact story has been played out tens of thousands of times here in the Philippines involving our midwife students and their patients.

A Christian midwife is undoubtedly a viable cross-cultural missions commodity. Our mission is to serve as a catalyst to see that vision come to fruition!

taken from: http://www.midwifeschool.org/about_mission.htm click on the link to read more

Statistics from two African countries in AIM's Central Region  

Indicators	Northern Sudan	2015 Target	Southern Sudan	2015 Target
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births)	638	134	1,989	1680
Birth attended by skilled health staff	57%	90%	10.2%	-
Contraceptive prevalence rate (current use)	7.6%	-	4.7%	-
Adolescent birth rate (12-14) years		-	204/1000	-
Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits	70%	-	16%	-

Indicators	Northern Sudan	2015 Target	Southern Sudan	2015 Target
Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000)	102	41	381	83
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)	71	53	131	-
One-year-olds immunized against measles	85%	100%	20.2%	-

taken from; http://www.sd.undp.org/mdg_fact.htm

Infant mortality rate in Central African Republic 

Total: 85.63 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 92.44 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 78.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

taken from; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Central_African_Republic