Whitney's Africa Midwifery Trip
It started in 2010, Hyderabad, India. Death was around me and poverty was the air I breathed. I felt helpless. I knew nothing. How was I supposed to walk with the poor if I knew nothing about health and wellness?
Feeling helpless at the preventable death of a woman in pipe village and the birth of a newborn baby planted a seed in my heart; to become a midwife. I knew if I wanted to walk with women, I needed to know about a woman's most vulnerable and empowering moment in life.
The seed sprouted in 2014 when I finally was able to step in to the world of midwifery. During a 3 month internship in Corpus Christi, Texas, I was able to begin my studies in midwifery, mostly through experiential learning. 
I attended 4 births and got to catch one of the babies :)
Currently I am continuing my studies with GoMidwife in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here I have been able to take my observations and experiences in Texas and dive deeper into my understanding of pregnancy, birth, postpartum and general wellness through book and classroom learning, research, homework and doula work. 
As a school, GoMidwifery will be embarking across land and sea to Togo to finish off our last month of school. We will finish our 9 months of study by covering topics such as field based emergency, worldview and continuing to practice our midwifery skills. It is our hope to hold classes to educate women on pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum period and general womanly wellness.
We will be partnering with the YWAM Togo base in Noepe. The clinic at this base has a birth volume of 25-30 births per month! That is A LOT. As a school we hope to help lighten the load of the midwife and nurse at this center as well as learn how they practice midwifery in a rural African village.
I personally will be staying in Africa longer for a total of 3-4 months. I am currently in the process of praying, researching and trying to find a place to gain more experience and learn from those around me. I would love your partnership in helping me pray through this that a door would open! Right now I am looking at staying in Togo longer, or connecting with friends in Uganda.
Because I don't know the fine details of my trip, I don't know exactly how much I need to raise. I know that my airfare will be around $3,000. Beyond that I am looking at the general food, lodging and general transportation expenses. I would love to raise money to be able to buy teaching supplies to teach maternal/child health to the women. It would be a dream to be able to buy an ipad so I don't have to lug around my laptop.
I will keep you updated as I find out more about this trip. Thank you for your faithful partnership with me over the years.
Mahalo!
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