I am so inconsolably heartbroken as I write this. A young lady close to one of our communities died giving birth a few days ago. She was delivering the baby on her own because she lived too far from a medical facility to support her. When complications arose, the hospital was both too far and too expensive, even an ambulance required funds the family did not have - approximately $100. Eventually her husband chartered a motorcycle to take her to the hospital but by the time they arrived it was too late. Sarah gave birth to a stillborn her death followed quickly after. In total she was in active labour for two days before she could get medical attention.
DELAY.
That simple and yet deadly dynamic kills.
Access to healthcare and medical facilities can save lives and changes those lives forever.
We can change lives by building more programs and building more urgently-needed clinics in rural Sierra Leone because no family should go through such utter grief and heartache. With your help, we can work and together build a better tomorrow to spare others but also to honour those who have been lost.
We hope that this Christmas, you can find it in your heart to generously offer the gift of hope for a better tomorrow to a country that is grieving so many of their mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and children. We must work together to stop this crisis.
To get involved, please visit: https://www.freedomtree.ca/get-involved/donate
Image by Bunting Kargbo.