Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Maternity Ward DONE!!!

Thank you so much to everyone for donating to this project. My village was so grateful! They were so impressed my loved ones raised all the money.



Delivery Room


Office


Photo from the men's opening


Me and my counterpart Abassi


Photo from the women's opening


Mama's learning about giving birth at the hospital as opposed to home


Some of my neighbor kiddos playing around the health center


Thursday, July 9, 2015

Maternity Progress

Here's a few pictures of the work done at the maternity. The finishes are done, now we are going to buy all the furnishings and get it up and running!

Thanks, everyone, for donating!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Infant and Maternal Mortality



What’s it like to lose your baby? What’s it like to lose a loved one during childbirth? What’s it like to lose your child? What’s it like to lose your mom when you gain a sibling? What’s it like to lose your wife and baby on the same day? How do you get past that heartbreak, that grief?

Even in the States, with modern medical equipment, electricity, and trained doctors, people have to deal with losing the mom or baby. The USA’s infant mortality rate (infant deaths/1000 live births) is 6.2. Here, in Cameroon, it is 63.3. Now, imagine giving birth at a Health Center with no electricity, no running water, and no medical doctor.

The Health Center in village keeps track of how many births happen in the Health Center and which of the babies survive, or not. With numbers from the year 2008 until now, I calculated the (projected) village infant mortality rate is about 73.9. (There were 38 deaths out of the 514 births).

Because I believe in the power of story, I want to share some stories to make these numbers come to life.

Take one example from a small town in the States:
Pregnant, nineteen years old, one young girl starts having intense labor pains at about 25 weeks into the pregnancy. She has access to health care, a modern hospital, and trained physicians. She comes from a decent family who is willing to help her get the medical care she needs from the local hospital. In and out of the doctor’s office for weeks, nothing helped. Finally, on April 25, 2006, she is in such intense pain, she can’t walk, but her mom takes her to the emergency room and is immediately admitted and being tended to by medical doctors and nurses. Despite all the prenatal checkups, advanced ultra sound exams, and access to western medicine, she gives birth to a little boy at 25 weeks. He was perfect, but miniature, and not fully developed. Despite him moving momentarily in her arms, and her pleads for the doctors to save him, he was gone moments after being born. And, keep in mind this is in a developed country, with running water, electricity, modern medicine, and trained medical doctors.


Now, shift to a small village in Cameroon:
Pregnant, nineteen year old girl, who carries the baby to term goes to the local health center to give birth. Complications arise but there are limited options in a village health center with no electricity, no running water, no trained medical doctors, and outdated facilities. The city hospital is hours away on a bad dirt road. The nurses and staff members do what they can and know how to do. Despite the efforts, she, and the baby, don’t make it out of the health center and in one day the husband and family have lost their beloved wife, daughter, sister and new baby. It’s hard not to think that if she had access to better facilities, technology, or medical doctors, she may have survived. Maybe the baby could have survived with better medical care or if mom had given birth in the city. So many maybe’s and so many what if’s. And, on the other side of that argument, what if the young girl from the States had been in a small village, giving birth at the health center? Maybe she wouldn’t have survived.

Of course, there a so many factors that played into both of these stories that haven’t been mentioned. But, every woman and baby deserves access to adequate health care and trained medical staff to do everything they can to ensure a healthy delivery for both baby and mom. Even in the States, where we typically do have access to medical doctors and modern medicine, there are loses people have to struggle through. In Cameroon, and especially in small villages, there is not the same access to health care and people have to suffer through these loses more often than we can even imagine.

And, with outdated, unsanitary, and unpleasant facilities at the health center, many women choose to give birth at home, without the assistance of trained health care professionals. When complications arise in an at-home birth, there is no health worker to help mom or baby get through those situations.


My village and I are trying to get enough money to finish and equip the building designated as the new maternity ward in village. We will be able to purchase new materials and provide women with more privacy, more pleasant and adequate facilities. We will encourage women in village to go to the health center for prenatal consultations, to give birth at the new maternity ward, and finally give women and babies a portion of the care they deserve.

Please, take a moment to consider helping us raise the money to allow our village to update their facilities and hopefully decrease the number of at-home births and help decrease the number of women and babies who do not make it through delivery.

You can go to gofundme.com/villagematernity to pledge any amount you are able to donate. If we reach our goal within 30 days, we will be able to go through with the project and get this currently empty maternity ward up and running.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and considering donating however much you can for this project.




Thursday, March 5, 2015

Let's open a maternity ward!

Here is the email regarding my village's soon-to-be maternity ward. Most of the people reading my blog have probably already seen this, but if not, read on! Hopefully I have not shared this information too early; I'm hopeful they will approve the grant and we will be collecting donations in no time!

Hello, everyone!

I am currently a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small village in the Grand North of Cameroon, Africa. There are about 1,000 people in the village of Tourningal. Or, because I know some of you prefer exact numbers, there were 1,068 the day I walked around and counted everyone. There is no electricity or running water in village, but we manage (as they like to say). The majority of the residents are Muslim and are extremely welcoming and kind. There are some Christians in village; they make up about 10% of the population. Most of the villagers work as farmers and cow herders, raking in a small income to sustain their large families.

I have included all of you on this email because you have helped me get to where I am today and to become the person I am. It is a little backwards that I am asking for your help, instead of me returning the favor for all you’ve done. While I am the one asking for your support, I am asking on behalf of my village, which will be extremely gracious when they receive the funds to open a maternity ward. I will be sure they know who has helped them accomplish their goal.

I have just applied for a partnership grant through Peace Corps. If approved, I will post a link online and email it to you. You can donate any funds you want to, or are able to. I know some of you are going through school, have new babies, new homes, and other expenses to take care of. I don’t know what the rules are on a minimum donation, but, truly, every dollar will help. And, if it doesn’t work right now, I definitely understand. There is no pressure, I simply wanted to share the news and give you all a heads up well before so you knew what was coming.

We are trying to raise $9,687 to finish the interior of a new building in village. This building was constructed a couple years ago and has been standing empty since. It is designated to become a maternity ward, situated a few yards away from the current Health Center in village. We will also be purchasing all the equipment and materials needed to furnish a maternity and get it up and running. It is a large sum of money for the States; imagine how far it can go here in Cameroon. My village is situated a few hours away from the city, so we will have to pay for the transport of everything from the city. The Health Center staff, along with certain villagers, will be doing the set up of the maternity on their own time. The only labor included in the sum of money is to pay the construction workers to finish the interior in order for it to be ready and welcoming for women in village. (I have the specific budget breakdown if anyone wants to see it!)

There are many women in village who choose to give birth at home because the current birthing room in the current Health Center is extremely outdated, unsanitary, and unpleasant. At-home births mean no trained health worker and increased risk of injury or death of the mom or newborn. The most recent example of this is one woman gave birth at home to a small baby boy, Adamou. She passed away a few hours after giving birth, leaving multiple children behind. There were no trained health staff present and the family still is unsure exactly what happened. Because of tradition (women are the ones to raise the children) and the fact that the father works in another part of the country, the baby has been passed around to various families in village, and nearby villages, depending on who is able to take care of him at the moment. He is surviving but not thriving; he is extremely underweight. This is just one example of what happens when complications arise during at-home births. When women do come to the Health Center, they have a lack of privacy and often are in shared rooms with multiple sick beds before and after the delivery. There is only one old delivery bed in a small room for women in labor. Despite all this, some women are able and willing to come to the Health Center for delivery, but more women would be inclined to make the trip to the Health Center if they had more privacy and nicer facilities. Twice in my first few months at village there were two women in labor at the same time. One had to wait in the shared sick room while the other gave birth and the Health Center staff and family cleaned up the room.

The goal with this project is to provide facilities the women and babies in village deserve. We will encourage women to come to the Maternity for prenatal visits and for giving birth, therefore, working to decrease the maternal and infant mortality rate in village. I will email you all when I have the information needed to donate, when the project is approved (hopefully). If it is not approved, then I will go from there and see what we can do. So, for now let’s hope we will be able to raise the money and get this maternity open for use in the next few months.

If you want to read some stories or see pictures of my village you can look at my blog, moincameroon.blogspot.com. I sometimes struggle to keep it updated, but I do try to maintain it.

I have attached three photos. 1) The new Maternity building, next to current Health Center. 2) Current delivery room. You will notice a sink but there is no running water, and no floor drain, so when cleaning fluids up they have to sweep it through the hallway to dump it outside. 3) Baby Adamou on my lap, wrapped in many layers, so you can’t see how little he is.

Thank you for reading this long email and for all you guys have done for me in my life. You have all had some impact on me that has lasted until now, and even if we haven’t talked recently, know that I still appreciate you and thank you for everything.

I will keep you updated! And, please pass this along to anyone you think may be interested in helping out, or to any businesses who need a worthy project to donate to!

Maureen Bjerke


Saturday, February 14, 2015

'Merica to the 'Roon

Wow, I have not posted on here in a LONG time. I have lots to say about life here in Cameroon and my trip HOME to the States! Since most of you know how awesome the U.S. Of A. is I'll stick to life in Cameroon.

It was so wonderful to see my loved ones and enjoy the luxurious life of 'Merica, but it made coming home to Cameroon very difficult. It took me a couple weeks to stop whining and actually want to leave my house and participate in life here. I needed a real attitude adjustment. I'm less whiny now, and enjoying life here, for the most part. My new positive outlook can be partially attributed to Stephen Covey's "7 Habits" book. I guess my dad was right about everyone needing to read that book in their life. It's a good one, check it out! (I'm running for favorite daughter right now!)

Anyways, after some private pity parties, I put my super hero pants on and decided I can, and want, to finish my service here. Definitely still struggling to feel like I'm making any sort of impact here in Tourningal, but my counterpart and I are writing a grant to get the maternity ward opened and functioning (keep your eyes open for your chance to help out!!). So, hopefully that will make a small positive impact on life here.

It was Bilingualism Day here this past week. I got to see both the high school students and elementary kids sing and do skits in English. I taught the kids "Old McDonald" but they seemed to struggle with some of the words, so, we will see if they use it for the upcoming Youth Day. These kids are impressive. They grow up speaking Fulfulde (their local language); then, around 5-6 years old they learn to speak, read, and write Arabic. When they enter school at about age 6-7 they learn to read, write, and speak French. In high school, they learn English and study one other language (Arabic, German, Spanish). I can't imagine how awesome and difficult it is to learn so many different languages. Especially because the first language many of them learn (Arabic) to read and write is opposite of the other languages they learn (French/English). I've seen kids who write French words/phrases perfectly backwards, probably because they've been taught Arabic. It has to be confusing growing up in such a multilingual area. But I also think it is admirable and impressive and we should push kids to learn at least one other language before getting into high school.

It is dry season right now and I have to say I never knew the meaning of dry season until this year. It is DRY! Dust forever and always, with no talk of rain and rarely any clouds in the sky. It is so sunny, hot, and dusty here. I walk around with my scarf covering my head and face, which they think is pretty funny. I love nights because I'm not sweating. It is hot by 8 and, then, around 4 it starts to get shady. I felt better today when I went to visit my neighbor and she was just lying on her couch, sweating. When I walked in she said it was too hot. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad for taking a break almost every afternoon when it's too hot for me to function. And the more northern areas of Cameroon get even HOTTER! I couldn't survive. It was apparently 90 degrees today and I was wishing for ice, air conditioning, anything cool, or anything to get some air moving. I truly have a renewed appreciation of winter and Montana fresh air. Not to mention, electricity, refrigeration, and climate control.