On July 1, we flew from Manila to the island of Leyte to the city of Tanauan. We are visiting our other two sponsored birth clinics on this island. Before I begin with all that we have been doing, I would like to share a very important part of the history of this part of the Philippines. Please read this article: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/blog/globalgiving-staff-visits-site-of-grant-work-as-anniversary-of-typhoon-haiyan-nears/
The city of Tanuan is where we are staying. Our host is the Cumpio Birth Clinic’s owner and midwife, Nerissa, and her husband, Alex. It has been an absolute joy to be with them. We have a busy schedule while we are here in the Visayas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visayas
Nerissa and I have been teaching the Helping Mothers Survive Bleeding and Helping Babies Breathe workshop over the past few days. It has been a joy to teach here in the Philippines. We have many newly graduated midwifery students, and they are soaking up all this important and vital information. The workshop is not just a teaching session, but it is hands-on work. The students all practice emergency skills with maternity and newborn simulators, giving them a chance to practice these skills in a safe environment before actually encountering an emergency. We were also able to donate some more of my mother-in-law’s homemade baby hats to the clinic.
Here are some pictures of our first few days~ ( ps. Note that my husband, who is a teacher by profession, took the course as well- so it is made for anyone who is interested in helping build the capacity of maternity care workers everywhere!)
