With so many women wanting to abort their babies, here is a heart-touching story, “from the other side.” This story takes place in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and a country now controlled by gangs, where every life is precious.

Michelene St. Gardien is 32 years old, she lives in a small village on the edge of a lake, not far from the Dominican Republic border. She is the mother of 2 children; she does not have a specific job. She does whatever it takes to survive, sometimes she even tries to catch a small fish. In this small village where she lives, they are extremely poor; there are no trees, no gardens, and drinking water is hard to find. There are no hospitals, not even health personnel, so most pregnant women in this village do not go to the hospital for their delivery. They spend the whole period of their pregnancy “drinking ginger tea to make the baby come early.” This ginger tea is very “life-threatening” for the mother and baby. It makes the baby try to come “earlier” than it should and causes high blood pressure! This “tea” is a killer!

For a long time, it became a custom when they give birth to a baby, to go to see a “witch doctor,” or even a leaf doctor. Sometimes they give birth at home on a piece of “tissue,” and after birth, the baby does not receive any care or vitamins, which sometimes causes them to lose the baby.

For Michelene, since she had been attending our Birthing Center, she has always kept all her appointments. Unfortunately, she had her contractions at home and she had no money for transportation to our clinic or a hospital near there. So, she gave birth at home. The delivery did not go as planned. She had hemorrhaged because “not all of the placenta came out.” Her family had no money to take a small boat and then pay for a motorbike to bring her to our Birthing Center. But, because she was so bad off, during the day, her mother “borrowed money” to take her to our Birthing Center. By now, she had suffered a lot!

At 11:00 a.m. she arrived at our Birthing Center. Our midwives rushed to meet her. It was then that she told us that she had given birth at 5:00 a.m. and that she “had been treated.” She was in excruciating pain and she was bleeding a lot.  For the baby, she said that at her home, they cut off the umbilical cord with a piece of metal and washed her head with alcohol, and wrapped it in a piece of cloth.”

For Michellene’s hemorrhage, our midwife quickly gave her some serum so she would not pass out because she had lost too much blood. They put her in the delivery room to remove the rest of the placenta; she suffered a lot. Before leaving the delivery room, they gave her a bath. Then, they gave her a large, clean t-shirt to wear because she had no clothes. The midwife cleaned the baby, gave him vitamins, and wrapped him in a clean towel; then she put on brand new baby clothes donated by one of our partners. They gave all the best of care! After all his care, the mother and the baby began doing well! We see great needs like this every day here in Haiti. Thank you, partners, for all your love and care. Sherry

Note: We are in need of “boy” baby clothes, especially age 5-12 months. Please send to: Love A Child 12411 Commerce Lakes Dr., Ft Myers, FL 33913

God bless you and thank you again!