Worshipping with the Saints

Sunday
Worshipping with the Saints

One of my favorite things about serving with Latter-day Saint Charities is the opportunity to attend local congregations in the countries in which we serve. Last Sunday we attended the Branche de l'Aeroport and today we attended the Branche de Mpaka II. Currently there are six branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here in Pointe-Noir.






Since I am traveling this week, I will miss performing in the weekly broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word" with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. I always enjoy participating and feeling of the spirit of the great music we perform. However, today I heard the branch choir beautifully perform "Dieu Tout Puissant" ("How Great Thou Art") which was very inspiring.

Soon it will be time to return home, but I am indeed grateful for the time I have spent here in the Republic of the Congo. Wherever I go in the world, I am always in "awesome wonder" of this earth on which we live and full of admiration for the goodness of the people I meet.

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Helping Mother’s Survive

Saturday

Helping Mother’s Survive

Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. Every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In the US, the rate of maternal mortality is about 12 deaths per 100,000 live births. In the Republic of the Congo, the maternal mortality rate is almost 700 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The most common cause of maternal mortality is hemorrhage after birth. The “Helping Mothers Survive” course is designed to train health care providers what to do in the case of bleeding after birth.  Our course today included 13 providers who are mainly decision makers in the region. It was an opportunity for us to demonstrate the MamaNatalie manekin and help them evaluate the utility of teaching this course in this country. It was very well received. We are hopeful that the Congo Health Department will partner with Latter-day Saint Charities in teaching this course to a wider audience in the future.






This afternoon we visited a clinic where 2 of the doctors work. The husband received his medical training in Russia, and the wife received her medical training in China.

HBB2 Dolisie Day 2

Friday

HBB2 Dolisie  Day 2

We completed the training of the participants today and held the closing ceremony. We distributed the training kits to each of the health care providers. They will return to their own hospitals and train their colleagues. We challenged them to schedule training right away so that they don’t forget what they have learned. 

After a group photo of the participants with their teaching kits, it was time for us to say au revoir. We crossed the mountains through the rainforest and returned to Pointe-Noir. We saw many trucks transporting gigantic logs to the port.

HBB2 Dolisie Day 1

Thursday

HBB2 Dolisie Day 1

Today we taught in Dolisie which is the third largest city in the Republic of the Congo. Most of the 43 in attendance are nurses who work in small health centers in remote rural areas of the region, some as far away as 250 miles away. We taught in a conference room in the regional office complex which was built by the Chinese. 

   






This evening we visited a hospital here in Dolisie with an OB/GYN physician who is assisting with the teaching here. He is a very devoted Christian man who oversees a dilapidated hospital that was built in the 1930’s by the French. He is supported by a Christian congregation in Vermont. The doctor performs C-sections and Gynecologic surgeries but also performs general surgery and trauma surgery as the need arises. He also oversees a farming project on the hospital grounds so that the hospital staff can sell onions to help support the hospital.

One hospital building has been closed because of a very leaky roof. We made rounds with the doctor and met two patients who are hunters. In two separate incidents, they were each been attacked and gored by water buffaloes. One had to have a partial bowel resection. In addition we visited the Pediatric unit.

HBB2 Pointe-Noir Day 3

Wednesday

HBB2 Pointe-Noir Day 3

The final day of our second course today went well. The midwives were able to complete the course and receive their certificates and neonatal resuscitation equipment. We also took a tour of the Tié Tié Hospital with the head OB/GYN doctor. We visited the delivery room and saw a baby who was born shortly before our visit. The hospital has about 5000 deliveries per year, more than any hospital where I have worked. There are only 2 rooms for postpartum patients plus 2 more rooms for post C-section patients. Each room has 6 beds complete with mosquito netting for both the mom and the baby, since malaria is endemic here.

 



After the closing ceremony which was attended by the local health department director and the Pointe-Noir district president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we traveled north toward Dolisie. It was a scenic drive through a mountainous rain forest. Along the road we saw some boys selling pangolins that they had trapped. A pangolin is a small scaly anteater. They are the only known mammals with scales. Sadly, they are trafficked to China where the scales are believed to have medicinal properties.

HBB2-Pointe-Noir Day 2

Today we taught Helping Babies Breathe to 50 midwives from this region. Joining our team from the USA and Canada were the doctors whom we trained yesterday. We are teaching the new revised curriculum (HBB2) in which we teach that if a baby is born with meconium-stained amniotic fluid but is vigorous, we no longer suction the baby. Research has shown that there is no advantage in suctioning these babies unless the baby is born and is not crying and not breathing. The new curriculum is now also tied into the Helping Mothers Survive curriculum.

The course today was taught at a hospital in the northern part of Pointe-Noir called L'Hopitale de Base Tié-Tié. Power outages are common here, so we had no electricity for about half of the day, but there were some large windows in the room, so that provided adequate light for us to proceed with the course without a problem.

In this course we focus on teaching the midwives to use the bag and mask to resuscitate babies who are not breathing at birth and who don't respond to stimulation by drying off the baby and rubbing the baby's back 2 or 3 times. Traditionally they put rubbing alcohol on a depressed baby's skin to try to stimulate the baby to breathe and cry, but this is not in keeping with the HBB guidelines. The midwives with whom I spoke said that they do not have the bag and mask equipment available at their hospitals. Though the donations made to the Humanitarian Aid fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reusable bag and mask equipment will be donated to each hospital in the region.

.

Our First Course in Pointe-Noir

Today we held our first course in Pointe-Noir. We trained 13 physicians  in Helping Babies Breathe. They will join us in teaching the other courses here in the Republic of the Congo. We held today's course at the offices of the local health ministry.

We have also been learning a little more about the city of Pointe-Noir. It is the economic capital of the Republic of the Congo. Since the discovery of oil off the Atlantic coast, the petroleum sector has become the major part of the Congo's economy accounting for over 90% of its exports and 65% of its Gross Domestic Product. However, slumping oil prices over the last several years have badly hurt economic progress.

The Republic of the Congo is a former French colony. French is the official language here, and that is the language in which we are teaching. However, there are actually 62 different languages in the Congo including the three major recognized regional languages: Kituba (the major language of the Southern part of the Congo including Pointe-Noir), Lingala (the major language of the northern part of the Congo with 10 million speakers in Africa), and Kikongo (spoken by 9 million people in Africa).

Teaching Helping Babies Breathe in the Republic of the Congo

This week I will travel to Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo, to teach Helping Babies Breathe with Latter-day Saint Charities. Using bag and mask neonatal resusictation equipment donated by Latter-day Saint Charities, our team will teach midwives and birth attendants what to do if a baby is born and is not breathing.

The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, is a country of about 5 million people in Central Africa. It is across the Congo River from the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is also known as Congo-Kinshasa.

This will be my eighth journey to Africa and the second time I have taught neonatal resuscitation in Congo-Brazzaville. I participated in the first course taught in the Republic of the Congo by Latter-day Saint Charities in 2007. 

In this blog I will chronicle  my experiences.