December 31, 2010

Mercy In Action building project underway for Aeta Tribe

We need your help! Mercy In Action establishes maternity clinics for the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. Please help us now with a building project to start a free birth clinic in an extremely needy tribal area. You can help by clicking on our PayPal link: Donate Here or on our website: www.mercyinaction.org
Mt. Pinatubo eruption This is where Mercy In Action comes in. Mercy In Action has established Birth Centers for the poor in the Philippines for the past 20 years, and has so far delivered more than 12,000 babies free of charge, producing outcomes that are excellent and well below the national average for maternal and infant mortality in the Philippines. Our proposal is to establish a Birth Center and Pregnancy Clinic to meet the needs of the Aeta community and the surrounding Filipina families living in poverty. This Birth Center and Clinic will be operated according to World Health Organization and Philippine Department of Health Best Practices for maternity care in low resource areas, and staffed by Licensed Midwives and volunteers. It will be open 24 hours a day, and be free of charge to the patients. Mercy In Action staff will work closely with Aeta leaders and train traditional birth attendants in the villages, to insure sustainability and ownership. Help us bring Safe

The Philippines is home to 110 tribes. One of them, the Aetas, are known to be the earliest inhabitants in the country. This group usually dwells in the remote mountains in the central part of Luzon; however in 1991 they became Internally Displaced Persons due to Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruptions.

Motherhood and Child Survival to the Aeta people. It is the right thing to do at this time; these people are in great need. Please consider a generous donation to this birth center and clinic building fund.

Aeta women do not have access to a trained birth attendant when they go into labor, so they suffer a high rate of both maternal and child mortality surrounding childbirth. When we did a community survey this past week, it was heartbreaking to learn how many families had lost 2,3,4, and even 5 children, and most of them died at birth or in early infancy. And many of the women we surveyed had also known personally a woman who died in childbirth.

You can help by clicking on our PayPal link: Donate Here or on our website: www.mercyinaction.org
Thank you! Scott, Vicki, Ian and Rose Penwell