Mil Mesi (1000 Thanks!!)

Sunrise anyone?

Thank you so much for your wonderful support! We woke up at 430am Sunday, ready to run. The race itself went well and at the end, we all said that in the moments when we were feeling tired and sore, we were pushed forward because of the women we were running for.

On Monday, Beth (one of the midwives in Haiti) posted that they had to transfer a patient for a c-section that morning and were grateful for God's timing in raising this money.

Mom and Baby are doing great!

With your support, the three of us raised over $12,000 - that's 12 women who will have a dignified, safe c-section.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

Sarah O, Sarah D and Megan

From Megan, fellow runner

Dear Friends and Family,

Last May, I had the opportunity to visit Haiti post-earthquake. The devastation of the country and people that I’ve grown to love was difficult to swallow, and even harder to stomach. Fortunately, Haitians are strong and resilient and have not been forgotten! I was so lucky to get to meet the people of Heartline Ministries, who seek to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the most marginalized individuals. While there, I got the experience of a lifetime, to be part of my very first birth. Ahh!  The midwives, Beth and Joanna, were amazing! They are unbelievably loving, caring, and self-sacrificing women, giving prenatal care, post-partum care, and clean, healthy birth experiences to Haitian women. Here in the U.S. those things are expected, but in Haiti they are an extreme luxury and act of love. Heartline is fully equipped to help women with natural birth, but what happens when a woman needs a C-section? Are they supposed to take them to the free hospital that is dirty, with blood and fluids on the floor, dirty stretchers, rude doctors and nurses, and just hope for the best? Is that what you would want for your wife, daughter, sister, or best friend?

Here’s where we can help: It costs roughly $1,000 for a woman to have a C-Section at a good hospital. On Sunday, October 24, I am running the L.A. Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon in honor of Heartline and these women who deserve the same quality medical care as we do.

Please consider donating to provide Heartline with the money needed to give the best care possible. All donations are tax-deductible.

You may donate by clicking on the “Chip In!” on our running blog http://running4heartlinec-sections.blogspot.com/

Or send a check made out to: Heartline Ministries
Megan Blaze
270 Ohio St. #10
Pasadena, CA 91106


Thanks in advance for your love and support!

Megan Blaze

Love Empowers (Re-Post)

Here is a recent post from a Heartline Staff Member, Tara Livesay. We hope you get a sense of their heart and mission by hearing directly from Tara, in her own words. We hope you'll support them as they support women like Angena and her family. We hope you'll support US as we (Carb Load) and run 13.1 miles next week. It's for the countless Angena's and this vision that we want to run & support Heartline!

LOVE EMPOWERS. 10/15/10

When working in a place like Haiti, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the needs. This is especially true when so many of the women we meet share a similar story and a similar large need.

It has been our goal to truly get to know each woman in our program and to glean a little bit of her story - to take the time to understand specific details about her life and her situation. We want to know more about them than, "they are poor". Whether we can help in each situation or not - we truly desire to know about the ladies and their lives and to enter into relationship with them. We believe that love transforms, redeems, and empowers.

Today I want to share Angena's story of strength and perseverance.

Angena is 29 years old and has four children. They are Angelo, 7 years old, Erna, 6 years old, Woodson, almost 3, and Rose Gerlande, 17 months.

We first met Angena when she came to us pregnant in late 2007. At that time our programs were still very young and in development stage. She attended class and was given prenatal vitamins for a couple of months and her baby boy was born healthy at home in early 2008.

Angena had attempted to benefit from our sewing school but unfortunately she was unable to keep up with the requirements. It was very difficult for the sewing school director to make a decision to remove her from that class. After that, the sewing director took a special interest in looking out for Angena and attempting to find ways to support her. Angena continued coming to the Early Childhood development classes with her new son, Woodson.

In our program we cover many topics. Some of the topics we teach about are: parenting, bonding, public health, hygiene, breastfeeding, STDs, birth control, and first aid. Some of the teaching is fairly basic and aimed at changing long-held cultural beliefs, and misconceptions due to rumor and superstition or lack of education. (For instance, most Haitians believe if the mother has a cold, she can pass it to the baby through nursing and she will not nurse her baby while she has a common cold.)

Many (if not most) women do not have any power when it comes to choosing to say no to intercourse. This problem is systemic and endemic and grievous. Because of this lack of power women find themselves pregnant over and over at a young age. Often times by the time the baby is born the father of the baby has moved on to a new relationship - leaving the woman to fend for herself and her baby without help. This story is told thousands of times over and over all across the island.

For this very reason, teaching about birth control is very important. We hope to empower the women by giving them at least a few options to try to reduce unplanned multiple pregnancies. Being forced into sex is incredibly unfair and horrible; becoming pregnant and trying to provide for a baby all alone as a result is far more difficult. In our program we cover the health benefits for spacing children and we offer them a couple of family planning/birth control methods.

Despite our best efforts and Angena's plan to use birthcontrol, she found herself pregnant again just 8 months after Woodson was born. Angena was devastated. She told us that her husband lives and works in Santo Domingo and just comes home occasionally. He sends money from his job when he can. She is left in Port au Prince to handle the children alone. She is left unprotected from the advances of other men. The situation is overwhelming.

At times Angena was very depressed, and understandably so. During those low times we were careful to pray for her even more and to remind her that we care and will continue to help her whenever possible. Angena desperately needed our encouragement and support. We asked her to start coming to prenatal class again, she re-entered the prenatal program. For the next 27 weeks we were able to see her on Thursdays. Each week were able to remind her that she was not alone and that we cared for her. Angena was able to receive prenatal vitamins that allowed her better health throughout the pregnancy.

In the summer of 2009 Angena delivered a healthy baby girl and named her Rose Gerlande. The father of the baby was still out of the country, as he was for the entire pregnancy.

After delivering Rose Gerlande she moved into the Tuesday Early Childhood Development Class. The benefit for her is to meet other Moms and to learn tools and skills to help her bond with and raise her kids. She is supported by people who love her. She is able to have her kids looked at by a missionary nurse when they are sick. This saves her a lot of money that the "village doctor" might charge to guess at what is wrong with her child.

It is easy to fall into thinking, "Why did she get pregnant again? Doesn't she learn?" Some might even think, "Well she got pregnant - it is her fault she is so poor." While a very small portion of her situation *might* be a direct result of her own choices, the fact is MOST of her life circumstances have much more to do with the culture and country she was born into. Her culture allows her very few choices and opportunities. She needs a hand-up. She needs love and empowerment.

Our program does not exist to fix Haiti or change Haiti's culture. That is a battle we won't likely win no matter how hard we try. We can change a few misconceptions. We can make a dent here and a dent there in long-held incorrect beliefs. WE can empower the women we serve, but we won't always succeed in convincing our Moms to use birth control or to plan ahead or to breastfeed their newborn. Sadly, we won't be able to protect our women from forced sexual intercourse. (Rape) While it is easy to get stuck being frustrated with what cannot be changed, our challenge is to focus on what can be done.

Our program exists to show mercy and grace and love to the forgotten and to be to them a little bit of Heaven on Earth. We hope that by feeling unconditional love, they might desire to know the unconditional love of the Father. We pray to that end. We are here to love and serve ladies that "don't learn" and that have incredibly hard challenges with very little hope for an improved living/financial situation.

Jesus came not only for me and for you, but for Angena. He loved the prostitute, the unclean, and the serial mistake-makers. He did not give up on them or turn away. It is for this reason that we won't ever turn Angena away. We hope and pray she does not have another unplanned pregnancy - we're doing everything we can to educate her about that - but if she returns to us, we will love her and serve her and see her through another pregnancy - because love empowers.

Sharing: From Tunics to Hospitals

Even though you and I are probably not from Haiti, as I sat with the women at Heartline yesterday I realized how very much alike we all are.

We love our babies something fierce.

We want what is best for them.

We are proud of our children.

We all fail and yet find grace and forgiveness at the feet of Jesus.

But there's something we don't have in common with the women in Haiti.


Moms & Babies at Heartlines' Child Development Class

Recently Beth McHoul, founder of Heartline had to take two of the women in her care to a nearby Haitian hospital to deliver. Let her words really soak into your soul...

"...the conditions of this hospital sent my head spinning. I saw two doctors and one nurse for many, many laboring women. The plight of Haiti - understaffed and overworked. Broken equipment, no sheets, no supplies, bare, dirty, rooms, no clean up crew rushing over for every spill of vomit and blood. ...I stood there, looking around, trying to keep back the flood of emotions. I so wanted to grab our ladies and head back to our clean, sterile maternity center. But they have what we don't. An operating room for a possible c-section. We know our limits, we know when care is beyond our skills.

I envisioned our ladies grabbing our bodies and hanging on as we headed out the door. They didn't. They hugged and kissed us with promises to call when babies were born. They accepted this. They are poor, Haitian and this is what hospital means to them. They were not as appalled as we were. They were not fighting back tears. They were not thinking human beings should not birth in places like this. They understood.


Mom laboring at Heartline with Beth and Joanna T

I don't understand. And as a person with power I have to advocate and fight for them. We can be a voice for them. Our prenatal program services 20 pregnant women at a time. We lavish them with good care, dignity, love and respect. All women should have this. We feel ownership once a woman joins our program and we have a commitment to see her through till that child is six months old and flourishing.

Sometimes pregnancy means complications especially with an impoverished population. We can only go so far when dealing with these complications. I want a better transport option. I want quality care in decent surroundings. This should not be a luxury for the wealthy only. All laboring women should be guaranteed good care in a clean environment.

If we can't find it here then we have to take action. We either need more money to send our ladies to the hospitals that only the rich and powerful can afford to go to or we expand and provide a hospital ourselves. Let's do it. A small hospital with clean sheets, equipment that works, a caring staff and patients that come out whole in body and spirit. Our field hospital showed us that this is a possibly. We can do it and we can do it well."

This verse came to my mind as I sat with these women yesterday...

Luke 3:11
The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.

I wasn't thinking about tunics, cause I'll be honest...the last thing the women of Haiti need are tunics. Heck, it's so hot here, if it's got sleeves on it, no one wants to wear it. Thankfully, Jesus wasn't talking specifically about tunics. Jesus was making a point. If we have an abundance of something, we need to share the extras with others.

There are two beautiful hospitals in the town I call home in the States. Both of those hospitals are filled with doctors and nurses who love and care for the women who come to their facility to deliver their babies.

My heart hurts that women here in Haiti do not have a safe, clean birthing experience like we do in the States. Today we have to admit that we don't have this in common with our sisters in Christ in Haiti. We have lots and lots of incredible hospitals in the United States where we can deliver our babies while the women of Port-au-Prince have none.

Heartline is attempting to remedy that in Haiti. They are trying to build a birthing center for the ladies in their program. Because of the work that Heartline is doing these women currently have access to the gospel, they are surrounded by people who love them and share God's love with them, they take classes every week that teach them how to love and care for their babies. Heartline provides literacy skills and job training so that these women can be free from the chains of poverty. They are fighting the orphan crisis and caring for the orphan by providing mothers the resources they need to successfully raise their own babies. But Heartline wants to build a woman's hospital. (Originally posted by Heather Hendrick)

Will you join us in building this hospital? In providing good care for our Sisters in Haiti? Please donate today!



Beth laboring with a Heartline mom

Healing Hands

These are the hands of Beth McHoul, the midwife who founded Heartline's Birthcenter. They have a prenatal clinic every Tuesday for expectant moms where they talk about health, nutrition, and how to care for themselves/their babies. Moms in their program deliver with them in a place filled with Hope and Love and Tender Care.




This is the scar from a C-section on a mom expecting again. You can help make sure her birth is a safe and happy one. Thanks for donating! :)

When a Baby has a Baby (why you should support Heartline)

She's fifteen years old. Her baby weighs four pounds.

His little legs are deformed.

A teen mom in Haiti. I wonder if there's any harder demographic to be a part of in this world.

I went to Heartline this morning and worked with this young mother to get her baby to nurse well. Breastfeeding is vital in this country. Heartline works hard to teach the women of Haiti about breastfeeding and to encourage them...cheer them on...as they learn how to feed their babies. Heartline is saving the lives of mothers and children in Haiti. Crucial. Their ministry here is crucial. If you want to invest in Haiti...in something sustainable, in something that is effective, put your money on Heartline.

Every time I am at Heartline it's emotional. It's not very often that you get to be a part of something so obviously good, vital, and redemptive. It's like pure beauty, right in your face. You have to sort of sit there, stare at it, and soak it in awhile.

(originally posted by Heather Hendrick 9/25/10)

A Midwife for C-Sections? by Sarah O

Marie Carmel in labor, sweet husband washing her feet

Okay..I know it is kind of odd for a midwife who loves birth the good old-fashioned way, but this is exactly what I am doing...running to raise money for c-sections.

When I was in Haiti right after the earthquake, I formed a relationship with a wonderful midwife there. Here is the good news! Beth McHoul has lived in Haiti for 20 years and has developed a passion for providing women with safe birth. Because of this, she has enrolled in a midwifery program and started a birth center. While we were there I attended a lovely birth with her and was drawn into her care of these women. However, we had one patient, Marie Carmel, who ended up needing to be transferred to a free hospital in the area after laboring for hours and not having any change. When the baby started having some difficulty, we decided to take her in. This is a hard decision when you know the kind of care you will be taking a patient into.



Marie Carmel, still laboring (with O)

So...here is the bad news - the free hospitals in Haiti are places NO woman should ever go. Blood and amniotic fluid on the ground, dirty stretchers to lay on, disrespectful (bordering on abusive) doctors and nurses (who spoke Spanish...not the language that the patients speak), and not a single BP cuff to be found...let alone a doppler. We had to leave this beautiful woman, who had worked with us so well in labor, to a staff who said "maybe we'll do a c-section, if we can't get the baby out with IM pitocin". This broke my heart. Thankfully this story ends well, because we returned back to this hospital a few hours later, picked her up and found a temporary earthquake field hospital who had a surgeon who listened to midwives and did surgery quickly. Marie Carmel has a sweet baby girl.


She is here

Here is more GOOD news - there are good hospitals in Haiti that these women can go to. But...they need to pay about $1000 for the c-section. The birth center just does not have the money to provide this. So, I, and a number of my friends, are running the LA Rock 'n' Roll half-marathon on October 24th in an attempt to raise money for c-sections when they are necessary. Our goal is $20,000 for 20 women - this should last about 2 years for this birth center,if not more.

We will keep writing updates and you can donate securely here. The ministry that runs the birth center is called Heartline and they area non-profit, so any donations are tax-deductible.

Thank you for supporting me in my love of the people of Haiti.

Sarah Obermeyer


The sweet Carmel Family

“We do not have to be saviors of our world. We are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and in hope, called together to change the world one heart at a time.” -Jacque Vanier

Dont just take our word for it...take Aaron Hendrick's word for it!

I read this post on another friends’ blog recently. They live in Haiti and spent a day at Heartline working with Beth and Jonna. Here’s what they had to say after their visit:


Beth & Jonna, midwives at Heartline who teach Child Development Classes every Thursday

“We’ve had opportunities to hang out with John and Beth McHoul from Heartline Ministries. Let me give you just an idea of the difference these people are making …

According to (a medical missionary) the work at Heartline is one of the most effective and most needed ministries going on in Haiti. This doctor works with some of the poorest people on the island. According to him, in the demographic that he serves, the mortality rate for children birth to 1 year old is … ready for this? … 1 in 2. Half of the poorest kids in Haiti die before their first birthday.

Many of these babies die during birth as a result of unsterile birthing practices. Many more die during their first year because mothers don’t breastfeed and instead use dirty, contaminated water to give formula to their babies.


Mama's & Babies in Heartline Child Development Class

Heartline is working with these women to give them prenatal care. The women then give birth at Heartline’s birthing center where these women are loved and treated with respect. Then Beth works with each mother to help them get started with breastfeeding their babies.

Heartline turns out lots of healthy mothers and healthy babies.”

Help us support this amazing ministry! Donate now!


Healthy Haitian Baby--we want to see more of these!!

The Reason We Are Running by Shelley Clay

A night of hell/ the maternity ward

Posted by Shelley Clay (at the Apparent Project Blog) Friday, August 27, 2010

Last night almost crushed me.

Let me start at about 5pm. I was just finishing up a nice day at the Apparent Project studio, working with some ladies on beading when Rodney, one of our "street boys" approached me and said his mom was really sick... again.. and would I come to their tent. They live in a tent city of 5000 people. I had the privileged of camping next to them for five days about a month ago and have gotten to know their family ( of seven children in one small tent) pretty well. Rose (Rodney's mom) also works as a jewelry artisan for the Apparent Project. She has had ongoing health issues including chronic migraines forever, so I am used to hearing that she is sick.

Still I took the opportunity to go to their tent to find out what was going on. I arrived at about 5:30pm and she was no where to be found. Apparently she had passed out and been taken to a hospital nearby. Her husband had just come home from work and was also in a daze wondering what had happened to his wife. It's not easy to locate people in Haiti in the maze of tent cities and broken down building, but we decided to go try to find what hospital they had taken her to. Two hospitals later, we found what we were pretty sure was the "tent hospital" that she had been taken to. After arguing with the guards for 15 minutes about gaining admittance to look for her, I walked into a maze of connected tents like a humongous living room play fortress from when I was five years old. Only this was a hospital. We walked from tent to tent in the pouring rain trying to find Rose. We were told time and time and again that nobody by her name had been admitted. We knew that she had to be there though, so we persisted. Finally, we open a tent, and saw this crazy mess of hair sticking out from behind a partial wall for privacy and a grim face showing us that something was seriously wrong. They were hooking Rose up to an IV and things did not look good. They suspected an ectopic pregnancy. Rose was shocked by the positive pregnancy test as she thought she had had her tubes tied when she gave birth to Lori via C-section just last year. Rose is anemic and not strong enough to carry a baby. Not hardly strong enough to go through another surgery, but that's what they started telling us she needed.

They said that they didn't have the equipment they needed or the surgeons to perform the emergency surgery that Rose needed right now or she would probably die. They said that the hospital that could help her was near Cite Soleil- the most dangerous part of Haiti and that if they waited for an ambulance, it would probably be tomorrow before she got there. We quickly turned my hobbling 4runner into a makeshift ambulance and headed down to Cite Soleil in the pouring rain, flooded streets, after dark.

The maternity hospital that we were to take her to was nothing I could have prepared myself for. Even outside, the cries were loud and heart wrenching. Every woman I saw was by herself, crying in the dark in the rain as the pains of childbirth ravaged her. Every woman was without a hand to hold, without a calm voice to reassure, every woman was... alone. It only got worse as I entered the labor and delivery room. There were no less that 50 woman in labor, on the floor, in the hallways, screaming, bleeding, by themselves. No family was allowed to enter. Five valiant doctors were running around doing their best to handle birth after birth, but it was obvious that they had become numb to the pain around them. I looked over at a lady on a dirty plastic covered piece of cardboard for a bed. She was hemorrhaging. Two babies would die that night. So this is hell I thought.

Rose started to cry as she realized she was about to have to have surgery again. She looked at me and said, "Shelley, Map mouri". Shelley, I'm going to die. I pleaded with her not to think that way. You can do this Rose, I said. You can do this for your children and your family. You're going to be ok, Rose.

So why was I there with her? Because I'm white. I had the privileged of being able to stand beside Rose for at least a little while and massage her feet and stroke her head and explain what an ectopic pregnancy was and let her know exactly what to expect. None of the other woman in the room had any idea what was happening to their bodies physically and no one was there to give them an once of comfort. It absolutely broke my heart.

Since when was the miracle of childirth reduced to something out of a horror film? This is life for the ladies in the developing world of Haiti. No education, no rights, no choice, no one to advocate for them.

Rose is ok. She was whisked away to surgery that night- largely because of my big white face in the crowd. Today I checked up on her and they told me that she would die if she didn't have a blood transfusion- translation: they gave her blood, so could we please donate our blood to restock the supply- ok then, I'll work on that this week.

On my way out of the hospital a lady in labor grabbed my arm and started yelling at me in Creole. She thought I might be able to help her. She has been in labor for four days now. Her baby is dead in her womb and no doctor will help her. Neither could I.

My prayer today:
"Lord, don't you see this? Don't you care? Can't you split the heavens and give these precious people some reprieve? Can't you see what they go through? Help us Lord. Help help help help help."

A prayer

Thanks be to you, O God, for the men and women
whose passion for the poor is undying,
whose prayer for the oppressed is tender,
whose defense of the wronged is fierce.
Grant me the strength to cry (& run) for justice,
to be patient for peace,
to be angry for love.
Grant me the grace of a strong soul, O God,
grant me the grace to be strong.

-J.Philip Newell

Become our Running Buddy! by Sarah D

It's always good to run with a buddy

Hello friends-

I’m writing to invite you to join me on a journey in Haiti—I’m NOT asking you to come to Haiti with me at this time, the earthquake has changed our ability to take groups for the time being—but I want to ask you to join me in one of two ways. But first, take a look at this adorable little girl, our little namesake:


Awwe!! O & D and Ti Sarah, born at Heartline May 30th, 2010

As we are finding our bearings in post-earthquake Haiti, Sarah Obermeyer and I have been privileged to attend several births (both in March, May & June) at Heartline Ministries birth center (including the uneventful, normal birth of baby Sarah). Those births were assisted by the wonderful Beth McHoul and Jonna Howard-midwives who run the birth center and women’s education program. They provide the moms with prenatal care (almost unheard of in Haiti) and education, a safe and clean place to labor & birth, as well as 6 months of post-natal care and Child Development classes. The moms who are part of this program are generally young moms coming from Cite Soleil (the poorest slum in this hemisphere). Beth McHoul and her midwife friends, provide all this love and care free of charge.


O & D & Guerline & Daniela--born March 17th, 2010

Sadly we have also been a part of several births that did not go well…births where we had to transfer patients, for the safety of the mom and baby, to another “hospital”. I have not witnessed these facilities first hand--though I have seen both Beth McHoul and Obermeyer, in the aftermath of taking ladies there.

For a few insightful first-hand stories click here:
(I'll link them on a sidebar here too)
http://heartlineministries.org/Blog20.aspx (entry posted July 19th)
http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-from-beth-in-haiti.html
http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/2010/08/by-beth-mchoul.html

These “hospitals” are unsanitary & unsafe and many times the moms are alone and in pain for hours. It is likely that you've read the statistics and you know that prior to the Earthquake Haiti had one doctor per 10,000 people. Finding quality, loving care in Haiti was and is incredibly difficult. The care available is often a far cry from what any of us can even imagine. However, there are a few good hospitals in Haiti. The sad reality is that Heartline patients are not accepted because they do not have the money up front to pay for good care. (In Haiti, where there is no such thing as medical insurance, all medical care must be paid for in advance). In response to this, Heartline is in the process of building a hospital where they will be able to perform their own C-Sections eventually. This will take some time. In the interim, we've hatched a plan.

It is about $1000 for all the expenses associated with a C-Section at a good hospital in Port-au-Prince. (That is approximately 3 years wages for the average Haitian).

So this is where you come in.

We would like to supply Beth and Heartline Ministries with a fund specifically to PAY for C-Sections, until they have the capacity to preform the surgery themselves. Our hope is to provide mothers in Heartline’s program -on the rare occasion when they need it- with access to clean, safe, humane surgical care for the safe delivery of their babies. We want to establish a C-section fund for them, so that when a mom has trouble in a delivery, they have the option of taking her to a hospital that will provide good care.

So we (Sarah O and I) along with several of our friends are going to run a ½ marathon on October 24th as a way to raise these funds. If you are a runner, please join us! (Even if you can’t come to LA for the LA Rock n Roll half marathon, find one in your neighborhood and start training and we will send you the link to raise $). Of course we will also send you your “Team Haiti” T-shirt to help you spread the word.


Picture yourself here :) You can do it!!

Our goal is that each person running would raise $1000—enough to pay for one c-section. You are welcome to raise more than that, as our overall team goal is $20,000. Twenty C-sections.

Would you consider joining us? Would you become our "Running Buddy":

1) As a Runner/Walker for the LA Rock N Roll half marathon (to register click here: http://los-angeles.competitor.com/

2) As a sponsor (You can donate any amount directly through this link and it will be set aside in their C-Section Fund)
a. Click on our "Chip In" meter on the right. All donations go right to Heartline!
b. Snail mail your check to: Heartline Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization, 
PO Box 898, Sunnyside WA 98944. Tax Identification Number 91-2072330. *please put in the memo of your check C-Section Fund
All donations to Heartline Ministries are fully tax deductible!!

So we’ve put it out there. $20,000. A big goal, yet knowing how it could impact 40 lives makes it worth the risk. “Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it.” -E. Lutzer

Yes, it is odd that a midwife would run to raise money for C-sections…it is odd that I-with no medical traning-have attended several births. There are a lot of odd things in life when one loves Haiti.

“Some 99 percent of the estimated 500,000 women who die every year giving birth are in developing countries where medical supplies and skilled workers are in short supply."
-World Health Organization

You can be part of changing this statistic for women in Haiti. Thanks for considering becoming our ‘Running Buddy’.

Sarah D (& Obermeyer too)



Our dear friend Antoinette and her baby Aiden, born by C-Section on the USS Comfort Ship after the January Earthquake