Taking It To The Streets

Sitting around Saturday night we tossed out idea after idea - what are we going to do tonight? Nothing seemed to fit.
Until we came to a thought that really blew our others out of the water! We decided to take the truth about maternal and newborn health and our mission to help them - to the streets! We made many signs with:
- health stats (every 6hrs a Filipino women dies of childbirth related causes, diarrhea kills over 1 million children a year, breastfeeding could save 1.5 million babies a year!),
- catchy sayings ("Send me to the Slums", "I Want to Save the World"),
- and a list of what you could buy with $50 (100 prenatal visits, 15 hot meals for pregnant women, 1 birth with proper care).
And we gathered bouqets of wild flowers, a globe, some music, a birth ball, pamphlets on Mercy In Action, UN/WHO Facts for Life books, bumperstickers - oh the things we thought of! And then the cherry on top - we all blew up balloons and wearing them under our shirts - created our own pregnant bellies!
And then we headed DOWNTOWN! There's a street downtown (8th street) that is lined with cute shops, restaurants, coffee shops, and every Saturday becomes a huge morning market. And at the head of 8th street is a large courtyard with a fountain in the middle, and on a Saturday night the street is full of people coming and going and enjoying life and the warmth of a Boise summer night. So that is where we set up shop, laying out our materials and talking to everyone who went by!
I am telling you that we had a fantastic time! Before we headed out we gathered up and prayed, asking God to send us opportunities to talk with people, to protect us (we still aren't sure if this was legal), and to be with us. And it was clear through the response we got, and some of the conversations we had, that God really honored that prayer!
- we talked to hundreds of people in 2hrs, many of whom had previously been unaware of the issues of maternal health, and who were really interested.
- when it got too dark in the courtyard we were given permission to move under the lit awning of a restaurant.
- 6 different policemen went by on foot or by bike and not one stopped to ask us to leave/arrest us! (YAY!)
- we ended up raising $170 from people's donations!
- a fellow Albertan and I had a 45min conversation with a businessman who works all over Asia, and did know about maternal health needs! It was a fantastic conversation, we really enjoyed it, in the end he gave us his card and told us he'd like to send a check into MIA!!
- then on Sunday morning a women we had met the night before talked to one of the girls, she had come to our church for the first time (!!) and she wanted to give us some money!
So folks that is how I spent my Saturday night, in the company of some wonderful women talking to some very interesting people downtown, and seeing God move! With that last donation yesterday, our total increased to $210! And now we are all praying about how we should invest that money (give it to one particular midwife, buy supplies or equipment?).
The Fair comes to town next weekend, and we're thinking about setting up there!