A happy ending…
Maternal and infant mortality: it’s the reason why we do what we do. Most times, deaths can easily be prevented with the proper care. Occasionally, no matter how skilled the attendant, the death of the mother or child is inevitable. Every time this happens, someone is left mother-less, wife-less, child-less or sibling-less; and those people are the ones who will forever be affected by the loss.
Last night we indirectly experienced the long term scarring that can be caused by infant and maternal mortality. On the last prenatal visit with this client, I asked her if she had any other questions or comments and all she said was “I just want to see my baby”. Yesterday morning when she came into labor, she was accompanied by several of her adult, female cousins, none of whom have had children. One of the cousins told us that the last time she attended a birth was when her mother was delivering her baby brother, and both passed away shortly after.
Fear surrounded this birth. All the cousins were very supportive and didn’t let the laboring mother see their fear, but we saw it when they left the room and when they asked us questions. They were remembering the outcome of their late mother/aunt and sibling/cousin. And we saw that fear in our client and later she admitted that she was afraid. She was subconsciously holding back while trying to push. It wasn’t easy, but both mom and baby came out of the birth healthy and happy. A whole crowd of cousins are now in competition to be the best auntie.
OTP’s 2012 Wishlist
Below is a link to OTP’s wishlist for 2012. It’s an easy, tangible way to help OTP in the coming year. Of course, we still appreciate your monthly donations!
http://www.amazon.com/
Since we sent out our last newsletter the security issues in Jacmel have improved. There have been no reported robberies for three weeks now. This is a huge relief for Sarah and OTP staff and we hope the calm continues.
Thank-you again for your support. We look forward to this new year and what it will bring.
Security Issues
Three weeks ago life was perfect. It had busy days, stressful ones, sad ones, and some days were just long. But, despite a few day to day trials, I was still able to have enough perspective to see that my life couldn’t go any better. The past few months were going pretty much how I had planned them to be (a rare occasion anywhere, but almost unheard of in Haiti).
Our team has grown. We have hired Ninotte, a Haitian woman who is our clinic administrator and student midwife; we have a committed volunteer midwife; and finally a committed volunteer doula/student midwife. Tuesday and Thursday night’s community class attendance is only getting better by the week. And clients? We’ve gone from about 10 prenatal clients in June to 48 prenatal clients as of today (don’t forget to take into account that there have been several births since June too!). It saddens me and joys me to see that I hardly know some of our clients. The last two women to deliver in our clinic are women that I hardly knew and I didn’t even attend their births; and while that might sound wrong to be happy about how impersonal I’ve become, the good news is that Olive Tree Projects is moving WAY beyond what one person could ever handle and I couldn’t have been happier.
However, like I said, that was 3 weeks ago. Things were perfect then. And although Olive Tree Projects success is continuing to grow exponentially, the challenges seem to have grown as well.
People have often asked me why I chose Jacmel to settle down and start a maternity center. And the truth was simply that Jacmel was a safe town, and I was a young white girl, so Jacmel seemed like the wiser place to be. It was true too. I’ve been living in this same community for 3 years now and until a month ago, I could leave my doors unlocked and not worry about it. I could be alone in my house with no security guard and feel safe.
However the reality is changing. Within the last month there have been 14 reported home robberies in the Jacmel area and three of them were attacks on friends of mine. All three friends were robbed at gunpoint. In two cases multiple shots were fired in their homes. And in one case, a woman was shot in the shoulder.
Life was so perfect here for a while – joy, success, very little fear. We still have joy and we’re still successful, we’re just living in a lot of fear right now.
We’re doing our best to secure our buildings and we are in the process of hiring armed security guards. All of this is costing us a lot of time and energy, but what it’s mostly costing us is a lot of money that we didn’t have set aside for this.
I’m hopeful that this will pass. I’m hopeful that something will put an end to this so that life can go back to being what it was. But right now we are staying safe and I’m grateful for the growth OTP has experienced in the last 6 months.
When We Say Oui
I often use we when when writing these updates, rather than saying I. I am just I and could never have achieved all that we have achieved if I was on my own. We’ve had different volunteers come in and out who have all contributed in some way. So sometimes when I’ve said we, I was including the short term volunteers. But we’ve acquired a strong group of individuals that make OTP work. These are employees and long term volunteers who shouldn’t go without recognition. So, without further ado, I present to you….
Ninotte Lubin – Haitian born and raised, Ninotte is an answer to a prayer I hadn’t dared to pray yet. I had thought one day our clinic would be staffed with Haitian midwives, but I had only a distant hope that we would find a Haitian capable and trustworthy enough to manage the clinic. She is everything and more that I had ever hoped to find. She is a woman, she is a student midwife, she is organized, she is trustworthy, she is self-motivated, she is a great educator, she speaks english, she is a friend, and most of all, she does not only want the job, she wants to help.
Amanda Pheeney – a student midwife as well, she has committed to staying for 6 months as she learns, observes and supports our clients during their pregnancy and labor.
Brianna Konkle – a certified professional midwife, also committed to staying for 6 months, she’s taken the lead on preparing our auxilliaire-midwife training course.
Tyson Timmers – Tyson is being a handy man, doing as handymen do – fixing and building things. He is also helping us with the security issues.
Gayly Monestime – in exchange for room and board, Gayly is responsible for the truck and motorbike maintenance. Gayly has become known in the community as ‘the boss’ – a jack of all trades. So whether he’s working for OTP or not, he is usually busy getting himself dirty.
Monic - our cook, Monic is responsible for making one large meal at noon and for keeping our house stalked with the essentials. She’s quiet, works well and keeps us well fed.
St. Emen D’ort – words can not describe St. Emen. She’s a performer at heart, who loves the manly jobs and would rather be mixing cement or carrying blocks. But since we don’t have much of those jobs for her to do, she is our janitor. Janitor, however, may be an understatement. St. Emen cleans, does laundry, won’t let us take the garbage to the dump without her, and she’s the one we call when there is something heavy to be lifted or a hole to be dug. She is a strong woman who knows how to work.
And, although not here in Haiti with us, we have a handful of other individuals who volunteer their time and contribute a whole lot to the continued success of Olive Tree Projects.
Our Board of Directors and Advisors:
James Varnam
Wendy Brown
Jared Epp
Paige Dumont
Yvonne Epp
Trish Wallace
Auxiliare
There’s a medical profession in Haiti called an auxiliaire. I think the best translation would be to call them nurses assistants. Like any professional, their competence varies greatly from auxiliaire to auxiliare; some are great, some aren’t. But regardless of their competence, they have a certificate that allows them to work in health care facilities.
We decided a while ago that it would be beneficial to have a few auxilliaire working in our clinic to lighten the load of our midwives. But before we hire auxilliaire, we want to train them to be midwife assistants rather than nurses assistants. We want to train them how to be good labor support, to take prenatal histories, to monitor all vital signs, and recognize what’s normal from what’s not. We want them to become community educators and to be knowledgeable enough that they can make accurate arguments against some common local myths surrounding pregnancy and birth. We want them to lighten the load of our midwives.
So last night we started our training. Of our four auxilliare students, two of them are former clients. After each person had time to personally introduce themselves, I wanted a chance to introduce the clinic. I wanted a chance to tell them what made it different than places they may have worked in the past. But before I started telling them my opinion of the clinic, I asked our two former clients to share their experience in our clinic. Both of them had similar things to say: that at this clinic, as opposed to anywhere else, the midwives sincerely care and treat the women like someone who matters.
We expect it will take about 4-6 months to transform these nurse assistants into midwife assistants. We expect that when we’re finished, their skill level will still vary. But if after 4-6 months each midwife assistant knows how to treat our clients with compassion, we will have succeeded.
Community Education
Education is power. And good maternal care includes lots of education. For months we have been speaking to a couple community groups who meet monthly – a total of 50 people hearing one lesson a month. It was good, but not great.
So, from now on every Thursday night at 6pm we are offering community education on topics such as nutrition, hygiene, and birth control. The same things we always educate our prenatal clients on, but now we are offering it to everyone.
Well, technically this started last week, but last week no one showed up to listen. Last week’s topic was general anatomy of the body. A common misconception here is that when a pregnant woman vomits in labor, it’s her water that’s broken. We wanted to clarify that the mouth is an opening the stomach and that anything coming from the uterus comes from another hole. But like I said, no one showed. As I sat and watched the door, waiting for our audience last week, I figured out what we had done wrong that made no one show up.
This week, I took a lesson from my past experiences with community education. I’ve never had more interest from my listeners as when I talked about STD’s. So, the pictures went up and before we knew it the maternity center was full. I think I counted 20 people there – only 2 of whom were female, the rest were male.
It was no different than sex education in a high school class. There were the clowns with jokes; there were the silent, scared, and guilty ones; there were good questions; and… well, no question is stupid, but you get what I’m saying.
The night ended with the handing out of condoms and high fives and handshakes as the men walked out the door. We’ll do STD’s Part 2 next week and hopefully the crowd will continue to come week after week even when we don’t get to say those words that makes everybody giddy.
Olive Tree Roots Campaign
Dear OTP Supporter,
For a tree to grow, it needs strong, deep roots.
Olive Tree Projects is no different.
For our branches to grow – the maternity centre, the nutrition program, the girls soccer league, Project Amen – we need strong, deep roots too.
And our roots are individuals like YOU who donate to OTP.
Olive Tree Projects’ monthly operating cost is $3,500. This covers rent of our buildings, salaries for our staff in Haiti, purchasing fortified peanut butter for the nutrition program, truck maintenance, and food. Sarah is very creative and resourceful and always finds ways to do something before having to pay money for it. Most recently, she made an IV stand from an old office chair. You can be assured your donation will not be wasted!
$3,500: All we need is 100 people to commit to giving $35 per month to rest easy that our basic costs are covered (you’ve heard it before, but that’s less than a coffee a day!). Of course any extra revenue will be used to give hand ups (not hand outs) to more Haitians in our community. We are also putting funds aside for the purchase of a new emergency response vehicle. This will give us a reliable way to transport women to a hospital in those rare, but serious, situations. In a place like Haiti, where life is so unpredictable, having a steady flow of monthly donations will ensure that we can provide for our community.
We are asking that you, our roots, commit to giving monthly donations to Olive Tree Projects.
Through our donation sites, all it takes is a one-time action on your part and your donation will be automatically withdrawn each month. You can also print your tax receipt at any time yourself (and help reduce our administrative costs).
Olive Tree Projects is helping lives RIGHT NOW thanks to generous donations from people like you.
Join the Olive Tree Roots Campaign!
Be a root of OTP; help the change grow.
A Two and a Half Year Pregnancy
In 2007 a friend of mine told me his girlfriend was 3 months pregnant. Over a year later, when I moved here in 2008, he told me his girlfriend just delivered. 3 months pregnant one year, and then she delivered over a year later? Maybe I’m too by-the-book, but I think pregnancy is only supposed to last 9 months!
Well I’ve been corrected. ”In Haiti”, women sometimes spend 12 months, or 16 months, or 2 years, or how ever long pregnant before they deliver. In most cases I’ve heard that the woman’s belly gets big and then small and then big and then small for a while; and often she’ll bleed for a while to begin with but it’s all the same pregnancy!
But in some cases, the women have been humble enough to let me correct them – “Humans are humans, no matter what country you are from. When you became pregnant two years ago, you miscarried when you started bleeding. Then you got pregnant again, but miscarried again. Then approximately 9 months before you delivered, you became pregnant a final time and that pregnancy only lasted 9 months and then you delivered your baby”
Well last night we delivered a baby that seems like it’s been in the making for 2.5 years. Mirland came to me for prenatal care in 2009. She was 3 months pregnant and excited to have her second child. Week after week she would come for check ups but I was never able to locate her uterus. Her abdomen remained flat. I tried to tell her that she wasn’t pregnant but she said she had an ultrasound with a private doctor and he said she was 3 months. I didn’t have an ultrasound at the time so couldn’t argue, but her uterus still wasn’t growing. Again she went for an ultrasound and the doctor said she was 3 months. I kept doing prenatals on her, but she kept coming back the same – thin and flat and hopeful. Eventually she bled and her cycle returned to normal. She was one of the women who let me correct her. She understood she was no longer pregnant.
Months went by and still she wasn’t pregnant. I hired her to work with Project Amen and it must have been the steady income that helped her gain to be a healthy weight.
Approximately 9 months ago she called me saying her period was late and she needed a pregnancy test. It was positive.
I’ve never known a client to have wanted their baby as badly as Mirland did. She labored all day yesterday – strong and silent. She finally delivered. The postpartum period wasn’t without complications, but alas Mirland is resting, healthy, and with her baby – Juhnaille (Joo-nay-el) Shaika.
Crazier by the Dozen
You know that movie Cheaper by The Dozen with Steve Martin and Hillary Duff? We have our own version of that going on right now. Tonight there will be a dozen people staying under Olive Tree Projects’ roof: four are between the ages of one and six; one is only a few weeks old; one is unborn; and the other half of us are over fifteen. Even though it’s really only the four children that are making all the noise and all the mess, it still feels like we’re Steve Martin’s family – food spilling, people slipping, toys being thrown around, kids coming inside covered in dirt, rub a dub dub three kids in the tub, laughing turns into arguing in the matter of seconds, arguments turn into laughing in the matter of seconds.
Our most recent addition to the OTP family is Cameta and her son. This morning Cameta called me saying that yesterday her boyfriend had beat her yet again, but this time was worse. She’s five months pregnant and started bleeding yesterday and hadn’t felt her baby move all night. After being beat yesterday she took her 22-month-old son, Edwinson (who has been through our nutrition program) and headed up to the mountains where her sister-in-law lives.
Annette Antoine
By Laura Wallace
Gayly woke me up at 5:30am this morning to take over for Sarah who had been with Annette Antoine, since the night before when she arrived at the maternity centre in labour. Annette is a granddaughter of who I call ‘The Grandma’. ‘The Grandma’ lives right next to the maternity centre, along with some of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Annette lives in a different area, so we don’t know her very well, but her family we see every day. They were all very supportive throughout the labour as they yelled along with Annette from their yards when she had contractions.
Sarah said the labour was starting to get strong and Annette was starting to get very dramatic and possibly close to delivery. I stayed in the room with Annette so that Sarah could get a couple hours of sleep before Annette would start pushing. I was told to check heart tones and blood pressure every 30 minutes, but other than that I had nothing to do but stand there. I felt a bit awkward for the first few contractions, just standing with my arms crossed. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to hold her hand and encourage her and play ‘Big Mama’ (which I couldn’t do anyways), but I felt rude to stand and watch her yell and scream in pain.
After watching her misery for 45 minutes, she started to put me to use. First it was just to hold her hand and then to rub her stomach. I was happy she knew what she wanted, however she started getting a bit too picky for my liking. She frantically asked for a chair, and when the 3 chairsI offered her weren’t good enough, she said she needed her Grandma. And when I couldn’t find her, Annette resorted to yelling and screaming her Grandma’s name herself. ‘The Grandma eventually came and showed Annette that the stool I offered her was perfectly fine. As she sat on the stool she had me crouching behind her, supporting her lower back as she worked through contractions.
Sarah then came back because Annette was getting ready to push. I quickly went to go give medicine to Wensley, a neighbour boy who is in the malnutrition program. By the time I got back Annette was fully dilated and pushing. I ended up sitting on a chair behind her supporting her back as she pushed. I grimaced as she pinched my thigh fat with her elbows and dug her skull into my pubic bone. I wanted to say “Excuse me, that really hurts”, but I figured she wouldn’t care.
After not long, a baby boy was born and was placed on his mother’s stomach. After the placenta came out and our job was done, Sarah walked over to the other side of the building and yelled out the window, “It’s a boy!” They all cheered.
Annette stayed at the maternity centre for a few nights while she figured out where she was going to stay (she had been having family problems before the delivery). We often caught her in her room just staring at her baby, Jerry. We figured that’s all she did for those three days: she fell in love with her baby.
Sarah Wallace
Sarah Wallace founded Olive Tree Projects in 2008 to serve and save the children of Haiti. This blog is a place for Sarah to post the latest news of Olive Tree Projects work.
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