- MOMS has been living its mission by teaching Traditional Birth Attendants in West Africa since 2005
- MOMS went into war-torn Sierra Leone in 2006, right after U.N. peacekeepers left
- After four years of increasing success, a falloff in donations threatened to undo our work, but
- It’s a new year and . . .
We’re ba-ack!!
While MOMS was having spectacular success in the most important ways - Sierra Leonean women were having healthier births and their babies were surviving - the economic downturn wreaked havoc with our fundraising. With your help, we honored our commitments. But we recently visited Sierra Leone again, and we learned that the people with whom we were working are clamoring for us to continue. So we’ve thought a lot about how to reach donors more effectively in the new economy. And, we’re back and ready to go.
What MOMS Accomplished 2006-2010:
- MOMS created a model of empowering poor, illiterate women in a remote area of Sierra Leone.
- MOMS taught 135 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in three areas to teach women in their villages, support the clinics in provided maternity care, and advocate and provide for the neediest of the village women.
- MOMS set up cooperative groups in three locations to support themselves financially and professionally.
- MOMS helped build a 7-room clinic in a fourth, nearby location
MOMS’ Plans for 2012 and Beyond
- Train new cohorts of TBAs, including those who live near our newly built clinic.
- Conduct refresher and advanced training to existing MOMS TBAs.
- Partner with the government and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for new initiatives.
MOMS’s team walking toward the new clinic in Ngolahun.
Jokibu TBAs weeding the garden that MOMS funded.
Trish Ross (MOMS’ Education Director) teaching Daru TBAs about the cardiovascular system.
MOMS' model of teaching TBAs in Sierra Leone works, and it works very well. Infant mortality rates of 45 percent and maternal mortality rates of about 2% have fallen where we’ve taught local TBAs basic maternity care and community organization. Women who were discouraged and downtrodden are now proud and well-respected warriors for safe motherhood. It does take money and effort.
MOMS - with your support - makes a difference.
MOMS' TBAs continue to apply what they’ve learned to provide better care for women. This is what they do:
- Teach their neighbors about nutrition and sanitation
- Encourage breastfeeding
- Advise about family planning
- Connect women to the clinics for maternity care
You made this happen with your gifts. With your support, we did the work of teaching, providing advice and encouragement, and challenging the women to change their communities.
Will you continue to help?
Can you...
- raise money? This is really and truly our biggest need.
- help lead the organization? We need committed Board members.
- donate? It’s tax deductible! Click the Donate button to use your PayPal account or a credit card.
NEWS FLASH!! Jitta’s Wedding
Jitta Rogers has been our faithful assistant, translator and advisor since we first entered Sierra Leone. She recently married Junior Seisay, our financial manager. Jitta’s and Junior’s story is one of struggle and hope; it is the story of Sierra Leone in microcosm. Jitta and Junior have hope - not unrealistic wishful thinking, but a realistic view of the challenges and the determination to overcome them. Their hope is a wonderful lesson for us all.
Chris McManus (MOMS President), Junior Seisay, Jitta Seisay, Trish Ross (Education Director)
MOMS is...
A non-profit organization whose purpose is to improve maternal/child health and maternity outcomes through education and service.- Our focus is on women who lack access to adequate maternity care, especially women in Sierra Leone (still one of the poorest countries on earth).
- We train women to be community health workers and change agents, teaching them basic health and maternity-care practices.