We appreciate all the support in action, gift and prayer. Sometimes, Save the Mothers supporters take action in inspiring and creative ways. We wanted to share with you the story of 2 such supporters in the USA who developed the ONE Heart campaign because of their experience in Uganda.
WARNING: Just a note that this story includes details that may be upsetting. We honour Amy and Jayne’s experience by including these details.
Amy writes:
It is with a truly thankful heart that I share the success of our ONE Heart Campaign launch on May 5. First, allow me to share the inspiration.
[My friend Jayne and I travelled to Uganda to see the work of Save the Mothers.] Dr. Eve [Nakabembe, Academic Director,] graciously gave Jayne and I a good part of her day back in March. We traveled to Mytiana Hospital and on that day, a fire was lit in my heart for the mothers of Africa. We stood in the middle of the room speaking to the mothers and then joyfully taking pictures with some of them holding their new babies. In a moment my heart was torn to pieces as we were informed that the young mother laying in the bed right behind us had just delivered a stillborn baby. There she was all alone, recovering amongst the other mothers holding their babies, many with family members around them. We prayed with her and assured her that God knew her pain and that God would comfort her. It was heartbreaking.
We then visited the Labor and Delivery Room. There was 1 Intern, (named Ivan) and 4 Midwives assisting approximately 8 women in labor. The pace in which they worked to assist these mothers was just exhausting.
[We then saw something I will not forget.] I am still trying to process the little twin that lay still on a counter top because they had no way of removing fluid from the baby’s lungs. In addition, the mother of those twins was not able to receive the medication she needed because there were no clean syringes available.
When we left that room Dr Eve showed us the room for the midwives to change, rest etc…. After just leaving the Labor and Delivery room and seeing the pace in which they worked our hearts were broken for them.
And the tour continued….Deborah and Patrick (Head Nurse and Admin) took us to a storage room outside (the old hospital). We all agreed that this building would be the perfect place for women to recover and heal after a Stillbirth or delivering a baby with health challenges, after a bit of work. At that moment Jayne and I agreed to take that on! To support construction, we decided to begin selling stuffed hearts made out of authentic African fabric for $10, and that is how the ONE Heart Campaign was developed.
Wow! Such initiative! We will keep you posted about the progress of the ONE Heart Campaign. Thank you Amy and Jayne.
I’ve been that Mother without my stillborn baby in an inappropriate ward in an Ontario, Canada, hospital, and I’ve visited several Hospitals in Uganda, and I wholeheartedly applaud your great new fund-raising campaign. You go, ladies! You’re making a difference!