transit

My life is extrordinarily transient.
This last week I traveled from here....our house in Metro Manila


To here....
beautiful Puerto Galera

And then finally back to here...the Antipolo clinic, on the outskirts of Manila

The group, at Fabella, on our first day of rotations.
An inside shot of our house.
The five of us who went to Sagada.
The official ribbon cutting! Vicki and Dr. Francis in Puerto Galera.
The hanging coffins in Sagada.

Hello!
Well....I almost don't know how to begin this email, or how much to put in. =)
Again...I'm sorry for the length of time between this update and the last! It has been an incredibly busy two months, full of new happenings, moving, traveling, and good friends going and coming.

Here are some of the highlights of the last two months
-New midwife students arriving, and beginning their training!
-Moving to Manila
-Doing a 10 observational rotation at the busiest maternity hospital in the Philippines, and possibly in Asia
-A four day holiday to the beautiful Northern Philippines
-The official grand opening of the birth rooms in Puerto Galera
-Beginning shifts at birth center run by fellow missionaries and Filipina midwives


New Midwives!

The third week of January brought the arrival of the midwife students who had begun their training in Boise last summer. There are 6 of them, and most of them will stay 9-12 months here, spending most of their time in Manila, working with a few different birth centers here. It is exciting to have them finally here, and to see them gain confidence and experience as they learn so many new things! They are all brave, awesome ladies, and I am so glad I get to help the train them.

Moving to Manila

We made some adjustments as we got to know the area of Puerto Galera, and seeing how the pace of births are much slower there, it was decided to have these new students get most of their training in Manila, where the number of birth experience they can get is much higher. We made the move up here after they all spent about 10 days in Puerto Galera, having orientation, and enjoying the beautiful beach. Right now we are in two houses...one near where our previous clinic was in Manila, and one farther north in Manila, in a new area for us. Three of the students are living with me in this house, and we will be working together for the next three months. The house we live in is one that has been lived in by people from Mercy in Action for a year and a half, and so it is lovely, and set up already, and has a great rooftop that we can sit on, with a view, and cool breezes. Of course it was hard to say goodbye to the incredible beauty of Puerto Galera...but I will be back for more stays though

Rotation at Fabella Hospital

Fabella Hospital is a government run hospital, that gives all maternity care, and some newborn and pediatric. It is incredibly busy, and averages 80-100 births every 24 hours. It caters to the poorest of the poor women, and many who came, you could tell had had hard lives. While we were there it was a bit "slower" being the "off season", and there were usually about 60-65 births a day. We were all split up into teams, and everyone did rotations throughout most of the wards. Since I was the only preceptor, I was in the delivery room every day, so that all of the births the girls saw, would count for the clinical experience they need. It was an observational rotation, so we didn't have any part in giving care to the women, but very frequently I would stand at the mother's head as she was pushing, and help her hold it up, and try to tell her she was doing a good job.

Fabella was an incredible experience. While I was there I saw 67 births total...some caesarean, some breech, and some stillborn. To put that into perspective...when I left the Philippines the first time as a student I had seen 84 births in my 11 months here. =) It was again, incredible, and it made me believe even more in normal birth, and that most of those births should be attended by midwives with skills in normal birth, and emergencies.

I could give a whole update just about Fabella, but I don't have time. =) It was also very hard in some ways...as the care the mothers receive is so very different from what we are trained to give. The staff at the hospital works very hard, and very well with what resources they do have, though those are very limited. Our Filipina preceptors were really a highlight for me, and they made the whole experience what it was. All of them were midwives and had very kind hearts towards the women.

Trip to Sagada
After our rotation at Fabella, five of us were able to take a little holiday to the Northern Philippines, to see the ancient rice terraces, go through a cave, and see the tribal hanging coffins. It was a great trip, and we packed a lot into four days and three nights of travel. Much of your travel time, when you head up north, is taken up by bus travel. The road winds through the mountains, at times it's barely more than a cut into the side of a mountain. The views are incredible, and people have spent thousands of years creating incredible rice terraces that cover the whole side of a mountain. We also got to go through an ancient cave, where we saw fossils of seashells, have amazing yogurt at a little restaurant, pick fresh strawberries from the field, and see the hanging coffins, which are the ancient tribal way of honoring the dead.

Official Grand Opening of Birth Rooms in Puerto Galera

On Feb. 24 we had the grand opening for the birth rooms in Puerto Galera. The pace there has been slow, and we have probably had about 10 births there in the last three months. I traveled down there just for the day, and I was so glad I did. The local department of health officials came, the pastors we have been working with there came, as well at Pastor Renchi from the Vineyard Manila, and most of our neighbors came, and it was a good celebration. They had a dedication prayer, and explained the services we will offer there, and then had a ribbon cutting, declaring the clinic officially open. Hopefully now, the word will get out, and more women will start to come to give birth there!

Beginning at Antipolo

For the next few months, Kayla, Lindsey and Sharon will spend their time doing shifts at the Shiphrah Birthing Home that is run by some fellow missionaries. There are 5 Filipina midwives who do all of the deliveries there, and they also offer care to poor women. They have been there for many years, and we are blessed with having a relationship with them, and their willingness to have our students come and observe, and catch babies. I will be spending a lot of time there as a preceptor the next few months also...so you can pray for me, for good time management, and wisdom!


So, this is just a brief overview of the adventures that have been happening. It's been a great time, packed with many new things, and good times. I can hardly believe I have been here for 5 months now, and the weeks just continue to fly by.
I have uploaded some more pictures on my blog, so if you go there, you will be able to see some more. And of course I will try to update more often! www.adventure-afar.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers!! They are much needed and much appreciated. Please pray for wisdom in leadership and good communication for me, as Vicki and Scott will be traveling around the USA for the next few months, and we'll all be working to keep things going smoothly here, and let them know how things are going.

Thank you!
Much Love,

Becka