Hope for Haiti Foundation has been focused on establishing and improving maternity care in the rural area of Zorangé, Haiti for several years. We have made a great deal of progress in meeting the needs of the pregnant women there, but we have a long way to go.
Now, we need to hire two midwives. They will not only see women in our two clinics, but they will begin to train the matrones in the area. The matrones are the traditional midwives who are attending the majority of the births in people’s homes. Home births are the “norm” in Zorangé, as there is not a hospital capable of providing maternity care. Therefore, we need to provide training to the traditional attendants so they can recognize problems early and get the pregnant women to the clinic before it is too late. Too many moms and babies are still dying from preventable and treatable conditions.
The newly hired midwives will also be in charge of the next big project for our 19 Community Health Workers (CHWs). Our CHWs have been busy surveying our area and getting to know the people in our community over the past two years; this takes a great deal of time as it must be done on foot. Now, we want our CHWs to focus on identifying all of the pregnant women in our area as well as all of the matrones.
We would like to raise enough money to hire our first two midwives. We need monthly pledges that will total $1000 per month and/or donations totaling $12,000 to bring them on board. We have two excellently trained Haitian midwives ready to work, but no funds to pay their salary.
You can make a one-time donation to the HFHF Midwife Project at FirstGiving.com, or you can set up recurring monthly donations through our website here. Please make sure to specify the midwife project in the “other” category when you enter your donation, or your funds will not be allocated correctly.
Please also take time to explore and read news from the trips. Maybe you will fall in love with the people of Haiti the way we have!
Fundraising Update
AS OF FEBRUARY 10, 2013: $13,700+ RAISED!
This is enough to hire and pay the salaries for one year for two midwives.
Thank you for all your support so far!
