I have Google alerts setup for articles related to Haiti.  I came across an article which was pretty hefty.  It reminds me of why Melissa and I are here in Haiti and supporting Heartline.

One of the cornerstones to Heartline is the Maternity Center and the programs they provide.  Women can enter the program during their pregnancy.  The women come weekly for monitoring, to receive vitamins, a good meal and an educational class relating to caring for themselves during pregnancy. Here, old wives tales and myths about pregnancy and hormones that can be dangerous to both mom and baby are put to rest.  The baby is then born in the maternity center’s birthing room.

Child birth in Haiti is difficult and many babies don’t make it.  I have heard that many Haitians don’t name their baby until after the first year.  The article I came across points out the dangers of child birth in Haiti:

Most Haitian women give birth at home, attended by matrones — untrained birth attendants — most of whom arrive equipped with only a razor blade, a piece of string and Latex gloves. The result: more women die during childbirth in Haiti than in any other country in the Western Hemisphere… More than triple the number of mothers in Bolivia, which has the next-worst maternal mortality rate.

The article isn’t the first to talk about the difficulty of giving birth in Haiti.  There was another one recently about Haiti women crossing the border to the Dominican Republic to try and give birth.  It is obvious, especially when reading the article, that this need is great.

The Guest House helps fund this amazing project.  By us volunteering our time to help the Guest House we are also helping the Maternity Center.

If you want to learn more, see a quick video or want to help.  You can visit this link to vote for a grant.  It also gives further insight into the project and has a video.