Life in Midwifery School

So much is happening here and life is so busy, that I don't know where to begin, but I want to let you in on some of the things I'm doing, some of the details. I could never express to you everything I'm hearing, learning, doing, feeling, etc. But here's a glimpse:

- every week we study Facts for Life a textbook put out by WHO and a bunch of other groups - basically its life saving info that might be common sense to many people here, but has the power to save lives if taught and put in place throughout the developing world. So each week we topple a new topic and then take Tuesday nights to put on all manner of creative productions to teach this information to each other. We get to practice what it would be like to teach this info to a crowd. And out come skits, puppet shows, songs, mimes, game shows and who knows what is to come. This particular puppet was learning about how to stay healthy during pregnancy.
- as a part of our education we are constantly learning about the needs of the poor around the world - which at times feels overwhelming, from watching Invisible Children (please do what it takes to see this movie!!), to other movies on vaccines and world health crises, girls education, refugees, child labour, and more to come. The topics are often heavy and difficult, but we are seeing that there is a world in need of care, and that as we are trained and go out in the power of Christ can we make a difference. Today we had an excellent presentation on HIV/AIDs by a local doctor - it was very very good.

- we also take part in exercises like one last week where 10 of us girls role played as though we were women born into 3rd world situations, as we "grew up" we learned our fate at each step and waited to see if life would give us the chances to move off the road to early death. In the end 6 or 7 of us won the lottery, the others moved through life suffering at each step and finally falling victim to Maternal Death, young, uneducated, uncared for, without a fair chance. I made it off that road - but at each step as we were routing for those still walking it, and I realized that it was entirely real. Infact the odds in real life are not so good. Women and girls, do not have the care, respect and treatment they need and deserve and thousands of them are dying each year because of it!
- every week we have tests and assignments in our specialities (for me that'd be Midwifery), these are hardcore assignments! This is real school, let me tell you - I honestly lug around a entire suitcase of texts, it weighs around 50-60lbs! I'm proud to say I got my first test back today and earned a 90% - I guess that's encouragement for every other late night!

- so every chance we get we try to take a break from studying and throw some fun in - like last Saturday a handful of travelled to the mighty town of Weiser, ID and enjoyed the Fiddle-Fest, we ended up at a makeshift campground where at every trailer people were playing country and bluegrass and we had ourselves a dance - what a fantastic end to a stressful week. We also invited everyone over to enjoy a Newsies Night - we all dressed like turn of the century newspaper boys and watched the wonderful musical - Newsies.

So we keep on, today we wrote another exam and now we begin a new topic again - its feeling rhythmic already, and I can't believe how quickly all of this will pass!

Prayer Request : Clinic is Shutdown

Friends, it means so much to me to know that I am not writing these notes into obilivion, that my journals and prayer requests are not bouncing off the ceiling, but reaching your your eyes and hearts. Thank you for reading, and thanx for praying.
Rigth now I have a prayer request for you regarding our clinic in Manila. Mercy In Action has previously done all the work necessary to meet national standards for birth centers in the Philippines, and have received their licences to practice. In the past some officials have even said that our clinic is a model clinic that should set the standard for many others.
But now we seem to have fallen out of favour with what is considered the 2nd most corrupt agency in the Philippines, the Department of Health. For some yet-to-be-explained reason they arrived at our clinic a couple of days ago and shut them down. This means that all of the women already experiencing prenatal care, and all of those whose birth's are immanent, and those who show up in desperation because the hospitals have turned them away, all of these women are no longer receiving care! As well all of our midwives who are already over there serving, are now left without the ability to help, and without the ability to complete their practicums.
While this is a bit of a scare we really are trusting that God wants us there, and wants us to serve these women and that He will open up the doors for the clinic to reopen. Please pray with us for this!! Pray also for Vicki, who is our director, as she has made a really quick trip to Manila to try and work through this with the officials and the clinic staff. Please pray for the women who are not receiving this care right now. Pray that God would be protecting them, and providing ways for them to receive that care they need through this critical time.
Thank you all, I love, and I thank God for you!

Mercy In Action - 2006

Here we all are - midwives, medics, children's workers, school staff and all our familes!

In the Mountains

This past weekend our entire school (about 60 of us) took time out of studies and the city to go camping in Payette National Park. It was incredible to get out of urban and spend some time in the mountains, it has actually been years since I've had the chance! We were about 2 hours into our trip when - surrounded by the mountains I felt God's presence and realized we were on holy ground - I felt like I could actually breathe.

It was a great chance to get to know all the other students, their kids, the staff - there are so many amazing people here who have a heart for the poor and are getting ready to head out into mission work, are or being a part of this school as they are on furlough. There are some BIG dreamers here and I am so inspired, I feel so comfortable to explore where God may be leading me.

On Saturday we took off for a quick hike to a mountain lake - but we did not find it! After a couple miles (yes, that is miles not clicks, I'm temporarily converted), most folks headed back, but about a dozen of us kept on breaking trail and fjording mountain rivers in search of the elusive lake. We never found it - but we managed to reach a beautiful alpine meadow, rest and go back to camp having had a fantastic adventure. All in all I think we completed 14 miles - a great day!

And that is what I have to say about camping. Above is the view from the bus on our way up, and then I have a couple pics from our hike: me in the beginning, and a medic student mid-river (so cold!)!

Week One: Owe, Birth Art

I don't really know where to begin in explaining to you the depths of pain caused by Tuesdays physical training (ie: 7:00 am military style calisthenics). Today is Wednesday night almost 2 days later, and the worst pain is hitting now. And I thought I was in decent physical shape! All of us are limping around shamefully, we seriously consider whether or not we really need to go up those stairs!
But thankfully, our academic and spiritual classes are not causing that much pain. We have begun all of our classes now, we are covering everything from mercy and justice to the science and details of childbirth to the basics of health education. There is so much to be learned!
Today a thought hit me - that I am so incredible grateful for this gift that God has given me in becoming a midwife and going to serve the filipino people! I was just overwhelmed at points with gratefulness for this calling.
Today we did an exercise in Midwifery class where we painted pictures of our feelings/vision/beliefs about birth. After we painted we each got up to share, and it was interesting to see all the different ideas and art. My painting is in the picture above. For me birth is this incredible moment when all kinds of love are mixing together to create this new and amazing being, and redefine a family. And so the love of the parents, of the mother for her child, of Father God for us, are swirling together in grace and intricate beauty. To me the white represents the innocence of babes and the natural power of birth. The blue represents beauty, and the spiritual reality so present in birth. The yellow is the glory of God so undeniable in the plan and design of human life - who can know birth and not wonder at the Creator?

Prayer Request - Lost Little One

Friends I'm going to ask that you'd be praying for one of my new roomies - Hannah is already a good friend, but early this morning received a call with some really bad news. Her dad and step-mom were expecting and the baby was due any day, last night her step-mom went into labour and delivered, but the baby lived only a few minutes. Apparently the baby swallowed some meconium while in delivery.
It is very sad and completely unexpected. Hannah is really handling it well, and knows that God has called her to be here - right now, so she is staying. Please pray for comfort for her family right now, pray that she'd be able to focus as she begins such a heavy workload and one that is so focused on babies and childbirth.
Thank you all for your continued prayers - I can already see that God has been preparing each of us students, and preparing this time for us. I feel different than I've ever felt in any missions/school experience and I keep questioning if all of this could really be real. Leaving was hard, but being here is a great, great gift!