Sudanese Refugee Project
Update from Rochel Englander, Group Organizer

Hillary, COHI volunteer, with Sudanese refugees (photo: Jessica Alderman)

Being an active member of the Sudanese/Hillel refugee project is hard work. You have to be alert and ready at all times of the day and night to assist helpless refugee couples and pregnant women. But nothing can beat the satisfaction you get when you see the joy on a mother’s face when her baby is handed to her for the first time. For those who are not aware, a group of midwives volunteering with COHI are participating in the Sudanese/Hillel Project in Arad, a small town in southern Israel, and in a women's shelter in Northern Israel. The aim of the project is to help and empower refugee women throughout the birthing process.

But unfortunately, not every birthing story has a happy ending. Working in this position exposes you to your fair share of heartbreaking situations. Click here for one such story.

Tanzania Project
Talia Weiss: There's Something About Anna

Talia Weiss, a COHI volunteer, with children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (photo: Talia Weiss)

Anna is a 16-year-old girl who has changed my life. I met her when I arrived in Kisarawe, a rural town only 45 minutes outside Dar es Salaam. I was there to conduct a theatre workshop about sexual and women's health.

Even though she was 16, Anna looked small – like she was only 12. Her appearance and stunted growth probably had to do with malnourishment and her difficult life. The oldest of all her siblings, Anna's mother died when she was just 11, leaving her to take care of her younger brothers and sisters and an elderly father. But despite her small stature, there was something in Anna's eyes, in her smile, in her rough and tough persona that made you notice her.

Anna was one of the participants of the workshop, and like all the others, she had also failed out of school.

But her intelligence and confidence shone through during the workshop. She was shy at first, but quickly opened up and was an active participant in all the dramatic exercises.

But one day, Anna came late and the reason for her tardiness would be shocking for most, but almost an everyday occurrence for the people here.

Anna and her sister had been waiting for a long time at the local well to fetch water. In Tanzania, the government is responsible for opening the duct to the well and they usually take their own sweet time. When finally the line began to move, a girl came and cut into the line. Anna demanded for her to go to the back of the line when the girl took Anna's bucket and threw it aside. Anna and her sister got angry and pushed the girl down the well. Because of the fall, the girl suffered a grave head injury.

Anna was arrested while she was at the workshop. The police came to pick her up in a cart pulled by cattle.

Anna and her sister were held in solitary confinement, even though the police had assured us that they were only taking her for 30 minutes for questions. Those 30 minutes turned into 12 hours and in Tanzania, if you’re held at the police station before your hearing, the police are not obligated to feed you.

After their hearing, the girls were finally released on bail. Since people there are so poor, bail in Tanzania does not translate to money. The prisoners are released on bail on the condition that if they run, someone else would take their place. The girls went home, tired and hungry.

Anna returned to the workshop the very next day and acted in a play about what had happened to her. Anna has resilience, courage, and confidence that one rarely finds in adults, let alone a 16-year-old child. But I guess her life experiences have been such, that she has been forced to toughen up and act well beyond her age.

Anna is the caretaker of her entire family. She is malnourished and barely educated. While most children her age around the world sleep on comfortable beds, Anna sleeps on the hard floor of her mud hut. And while most children around the world fight with each other over toys, Anna fights with children over drinking water.

Tanzania Project
Faridah Mgunda: FLEMAFA efforts to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in rural areas

Faridah Mgunda (photo: Mindy Levy)

The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Tanzania has increased from 529 in 1996 to 578 in 2004/5, according to the Tanzania Demographic Health Survey. Over half of the deliveries are conducted at home and the situation is even worse in the rural where a very small number of babies are born at health facilities as compared to urban centers. Trained and traditional birth attendants assist in only one-fifth of the deliveries, while majority of the babies are delivered by relatives or other untrained people. These are alarming facts that we felt needed immediate attention.

FLEMAFA is implementing a project, "The Kisarawe Initiative: Joining Hands to Protect the Lives of Pregnant Women" to tackle the problem of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, especially in rural areas. The approach applied is mainly at the community or village level. FLEMAFA targets traditional healers who are well respected in the community, traditional birth attendants, village health workers, nurse assistants and other members of the community. It gives them training on specific areas of maternal care that will improve the health of women during pregnancy, labor, postnatal and newborn, increase early detection of warning signs, referrals, and increase the number of hospital deliveries.

Together with FLEMAFA, COHI is supporting this project in Tanzania. It is the hope of FLEMAFA to open a maternity home near a local hospital, providing the ability for safer births for the women FLEMAFA serves.

Please feel free to find out more about this program by visiting our site here or by emailing info[at]cohintl.org.

In Brief

COHI has been named the cause of the month at Everything Birth! Support COHI by shopping at this great site where you can find toys, diapers, home birth kits and more!!!