While our principal program is our JCO Children's Home (est. 2010), in 2014 we had the opportunity to do something quite different and we took it! We were approached by the leadership of a local clinic, the Sirembe Dispensary, and they asked us to help them build a maternity ward.
As a rule, we only take on new projects that are first requested or initiated by the local community. The village of Sirembe is where most of our programs are located and so It was clear to us that the people there would benefit greatly from a well-functioning maternity ward. With this offer of formal collaboration to build one came the certainty that there was also enough support on the ground to make it happen. So we decided to partner with the local clinic in Sirembe, Kenya - which is where our JCO children and staff get treated when they are sick.
The Sirembe Dispensary was where a great many local women would go to deliver babies and while the staff there did the best that they could with the resources available, it was not very conducive to a healthy delivery. There was no drainage in the patient rooms and there was no real separation between delivering mothers with newborns and the other sick patients at the clinic. Many of these sick patients have highly communicable diseases such as TB, which is particularly dangerous for people with compromised immune systems (e.g. delivering mothers and their newborn babies). It was very clear that a proper facility was needed.
At that time the local committee in Sirembe came together and identified what the needs were and raised $12,000 from the Kenyan government. However, they needed an additional $25,000 to complete the construction, which included a septic and drainage system. Our Restore Humanity Medical Committee made up of members from our Board of Directors and doctors from NWA decided to step up and help out.
Our Restore Humanity Medical Committee Chairman, Dr. Scott Bailey, led the way and we were able to raise the remaining money needed for construction and some basic furnishings and equipment by the end of 2014. By March 2015 the first baby was born at the new facility! A healthy boy named Titus!
What's even more incredible is that well over 1,000 healthy babies have been born to healthy mamas in the time that has passed since those doors were first opened. I am so thankful that we were given the opportunity to help and that our wonderful donors made this all possible!
Now having delivered two baby boys myself, I have an even greater understanding of how crucial it is to have a hygienic, safe, and calm environment in which to give birth. To have both the space you need during the process, but also to have professionals there to help you and your baby through the journey. It is a magical time, but everyone is also quite vulnerable during the process.
I feel so grateful that we were able to do this for mamas and babies in Sirembe. I am so thankful for Dr. Bailey and everyone else who helped to get this done! In the future, we hope to find even more ways to help Sirembe's mamas and babies, but in the meantime, I just wanted to take a moment to look back with gratitude at how far we have come.