Birthing kits deliver care to PNG sisters

It is difficult to imagine giving birth to a baby in any setting other than a sterile hospital with a well-equipped labour ward. 

This is far from the experience of most women in rural and remote Papua New Guinea (PNG). Often the best that pregnant women in these places can hope for is to be near a centre where a village midwife or nurse from Lutheran Health Services (LHS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG) is stationed. 

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Women who live in remote places are often not able to have their babies in hospital and maternal and child mortality is quite high. Births may take place in thatched houses, on dirt floors, or in a setting with dirty walls and floors, possibly on slat beds.

It is in these situations that birthing kits, lovingly prepared by Lutheran women around Australia, bring the gift of hope and life to newborns and their mothers.

Lutheran Women of Australia (LWA) has always supported women in PNG, especially in health. During the many years I was a nurse and nurse educator there, this support was evident, and continues today through the birthing kit program. The idea for the program was presented at the LWA convention in Sydney in 2003.

Village midwives had been trained in PNG for several years, but were given nothing to help deliver babies. Midwives and teachers at the Lutheran School of Nursing, where I taught, saw the need to help village midwives assist births. Since then thousands of kits have been sent. They are used to help give women a clean, safe delivery.

The kits are a small way in which Australian women can help the women of PNG and show they care for their sisters in a neighbouring country. They include plastic and linen squares to provide a clean delivery area, disposable gloves, a scalpel blade, cloth nappies and soap, along with a tract with Bible verses in Pidgin English.

Made by women’s fellowship groups across Australia, the kits are packed into cartons by Joan and Kevin Koster, then sent by LCA International Mission to Lae, PNG. Some kits made in Queensland are sent from Brisbane to Madang.

If you would like to contribute a birthing kit or donate to this program, please contact LCA International Mission at lcaim@lca.org.au,  08 8267 7334 or www.lcamission.org.au