October, 2013—Forty-seven-year-old Lu Thi Thuong is a traditional midwife in one of Vietnam’s northern villages, a region where pregnant women and babies are at severe risk of malnourishment, infections, and birth complications.
Lu makes her living as a farmer, but is respected throughout the community for her role as a “women’s representative.” That’s why, when her village heard Samaritan’s Purse was providing a birth attendant training course in the region, they suggested Lu attend.
Women like Lu are critically important in their communities. In this part of Vietnam, pregnant mothers follow traditional birth techniques and babies are often delivered in unsanitary conditions—either at home, or even in the fields where their mothers work. With training funded by Canadians like you, Lu and countless other Vietnamese midwives can save many lives.
At first, Lu was hesitant to attend the birth attendant training because of her age. But her community’s encouragement helped Lu overcome her shyness and enroll.
Throughout the 10-day program, Lu and 134 other women from neighboring areas learned about nutrition, home health care and hygiene, and the need for clean water and sanitation. Our field office taught the midwives about reproductive health and safe child delivery techniques to reduce maternal mortality rates.
“The trainers are very friendly and devoted to teaching,” said a smiling Lu during her third day of the program. “They explain in local dialects to facilitate your understanding.”
When Lu finished the course, she was given tools for home deliveries, including scissors, cotton, a flashlight, soap, and bandages. She also left with knowledge and a renewed sense of dignity that she could share with other women.
“What I studied here is quite different from what I did in home deliveries, ranging from umbilical cord cutting and handling, to caretaking after the birth,” Lu said. “Listening to the trainer’s lectures, I know what to do now.”
Please join us in partnering with and empowering women like Lu. May the Lord equip them with wisdom as they serve Vietnamese communities, where their leadership and knowledge means the difference between life and death for many mothers and their newborns.
Your gift can help women in poor, rural communities give birth to healthy babies and raise them wisely. Samaritan’s Purse not only trains local birth attendants in areas where mothers often have no access to medical care during pregnancy and delivery, but also provides parenting training, transportation to hospitals, vitamins, and more.