TANZANIA
KARATU HEALTH CENTER &
KARATU LUTHERAN HOSPITAL
Each year we strive to learn about what the actual needs of the hospitals we work in are. Our first year in 2019 we partnered with SAFE WATER NOW and brought fifty water filters to clinics to send home with mothers and nurses. We also partnered with BOMA LA MAMA to offer reusable menstrual pads and soap to the postpartum mothers.. By the end of our trip, the Karatu Health Center (known by locals as Dabaldi), explained that their number one need was an ultrasound machine. They serve over 150 birthing women each month, and when something is presenting as complicated they must refer the patient to a different clinic with the proper technology. This means a pregnant or laboring mother might have to travel down bumpy roads for the care she needs.
In 2019, we raised $17,000 to purchase an ultrasound machine for Karatu District Hospital. It was quite a journey, and so grateful for Saja Erens (an amazing Deutch midwife) at Stitching Mount Meru for providing sonography training to Dr. Simpa so that he can be of service to the patients at the hospital.
It is imperative when we purchase equipment that there is properly trained staff that will be able to use it, and that the technology is compliant with the environment at the clinics (open air, power source, etc).
In 2024 we made great progress with the speciality referral hospital, Karatu Lutheran Hospital. Thanks to your support, we were able to acquire 3 medical oxygen concentrators, 3 oxygen splinters for neonates, 2 overhead heat lamps, and 4 fetal dopplers.
If you would like to be involved in helping these clinics get more life saving equipment, please contact the foundation! We are always open to collaborations aimed to improve maternal health outcomes.
ECUADOR
Projects & Partners
Traditional Midwives in Ecuador
Let me introduce you to our wonderful teachers in Ecuador. Martha and Luzmila, an epic mother- daughter duo.
Martha is a traditional midwife, herbalist, and indigenous healer from the Andes of Ecuador. She is a community leader, farmer, guardian and defender of the land.
She is part of the collective of traditional midwives HAMPI WARMIKUNA from the city of Cotacachi. She learned the trade of midwifery and healing through plants from the hands of the wise grandmothers of her community, with the blessing of the sacred hill that has housed her lineage for centuries, Mama Cotacachi.
Her mother, Luzmila is a midwife, herbalist, guinea pig diagnosis specialist, and a teacher at the “Unanchu mamakuna” traditional midwifery school.
Together these women are dedicated to preserving their ancestral birth knowledge and sharing their wisdom with other birth keepers.
We are honored to learn from them and to support them in the development of their projects.
Martha has started a traditional midwifery at the school to equip more women in her community and the world with this knowledge. Wombs of the World Foundation supports her graduated classes with materials they need such as dopplers.
Big projects are in the works! Dreams of global courses and building birth houses are to come... Stay tuned!
Martha es una partera, hierbatera, y la directora de la escuela de partería tradicional “Unanchu mamakuna”, y sanadora indígena de los andes del Ecuador. Líder comunitaria, agricultora, guardiana y defensora de la tierra.
Es parte del colectivo de parteras tradicionales HAMPI WARMIKUNA de la ciudad de Cotacachi. Aprendió el oficio de la partería y la curación a través de las plantas de las manos de las abuelas sabias de su comunidad, con la bendición del sagrado cerro que acoge su linaje desde hace siglos, la Mama Cotacachi.
Su madre Luzmila es tambien una partera, hierbatera, especialista en diagnóstico con cuy, y docente de la escuela de partería tradicional “Unanchu mamakuna”.
Juntas, estas mujeres se dedican a preservar su conocimiento ancestral sobre el nacimiento y compartir su sabiduría con otros cuidadores de partos.
Would you like to be more involved with the work Martha and Luzmila are doing? Consider joining a committee or hosting a fundraiser. Contact us to learn more.
