What happens when a mother doesn't have basic prenatal care?

This doma campaign that I am running for the next few weeks is near and dear to me and my family. When my brother and his wife first got involved with this organization, I thought it was "just another missions trip."

Boy, was I wrong!

After watching them take several trips to Russia, Uganda and Ethiopia, I have seen and heard the extreme troubles that go on in these places.

Un.speakable.

Whether you have insurance or not, we take basic medical care for granted here in the U.S. At least it's available to us. Place like Uganda and Ethiopia have nothing.  In the words of my brother....

My wife, Amber, is the medical director for Doma.  She travels to Ethiopia several times a year and takes medical teams to work in rural Ethiopia where people have no access to medical care.  Because of this lack of medical care, women die in child birth and children die young.  Families are ravaged by death and illness - all because of a lack of basic prenatal and postnatal medical care.  Amber is in the process of planning, building, and running a medical clinic in Bora, a rural mountain village where rates of infant and maternal mortality and illness are heart-breakingly high.

On her last trip this summer she went and met with the village elders to talk about plans for a prenatal medical center in their area.  One of the village elders, a wise and elderly man for whom infant and maternal mortality has always been a part of life, stood up and said to Amber, "Thank you for the work you are doing here.  What you have done is brought hope to our people.  You are an answer to our prayers."

YOU, too, can be an answer to their prayers.  Every single dollar donated will go towards doma's mission to bring pre and post natal care to these mamas. For me, I can't travel to Ethiopia. I can't see the hurt in these children's eyes.  I can't talk to these moms face to face.  But this is my way of being a part of an amazing opportunity.  I hope you will be a part too.


CLICK HERE to go directly to the secure donation page. CLICK HERE to read more about the prizes (yes, prizes!!) involved when even just $1 is donated.

**Thank you!!**

{All donations made are automatically recorded, so even if you donate anonymously, I will know how much you donated!}

{Infant Mortality Rate:

According to the CIA World Factbook, for every 1,000 children that are born in Ethiopia, 81 will die between birth and age one. This ranks as the 20^th worst in the world (out of 224). By comparison, 6 infants out of every 1,000 die between birth and age 1 in the United States.

Maternal Mortality Rate:

In Ethiopia, for every 100,000 child births, there are 720 maternal deaths. Given that high number of children that each mother in Ethiopia has, this means that 1 out of every 27 mothers will die giving birth. By comparison, 8 out of every 100,000 child births results in death of the mother in the United States.

Among the many reasons for such staggering statistics, one important consideration is that 94% of births in Ethiopia are not attended by a doctor or midwife. In places like Bora, it would be rare for any births to be attended by a doctor or midwife.

Go here to read more about doma's Ethiopia connection.}