Midwifery

Yes that is a word, I swear- I've checked because it sounds so silly to say.

What do you think of when you hear midwife?

I think 2 things: crazy hippies who wear long skirts and have crazy long hair (nice stereotype) and I think I want to be one.

This summer has put a lot of thoughts into my head, a lot that I will be gradually sharing with you, this one thought has definitely been the most prevalent.

I think I want to be a midwife.

That thought is a little terrifying to me, to be honest.

I hate science. I'm not good at it and I have only ever taken one science class in college and that was geology and I hated it. If I'm actually going to do this, I will have to take so much science. I will have to get caught up on all those science classes I was so thankful I didn't have to take (chemistry, biology, anatomy, etc, etc). And then on top of that, I will have to take 2-3 years of classes on how to be a midwife.

That's a lot more school than I ever thought I would want to do.

But I think I may want to do this.

Why you ask? I'm so glad that you did.

Because in Afghanistan, 133 babies per 1000 births die (according to UNICEF).

Because in Afghanistan, a woman faces a 1 in 11 chance of dying in childbirth. That means that for every 11 women that give birth, 1 will die. I can easily name 11 women that I know who have given birth in the last year or will be giving birth soon- I'm sure you can too. Imagine one of them dead. 

Because in Ethiopia, 94% of women give birth without any sort of professional help. In the UK, 1% of women give birth without help, and I'm sure that is a problem that they are desperate to fix.

Because in India, a woman died on the road in front of the land where I will one day live, trying to walk to the city that is an hour away by car, so that she could give birth.

Here's a fact that boggles my mind- in the UK there are 749,000 births a year and 26,825 midwives. That is 1 midwife for every 28 births. I don't know if that figure includes OB/GYNs, but I would think that those wouldn't be included, meaning there are even more professionals per birth. In Rwanda, on the other hand, there are 400,000 births a year and there are 40 midwives. In the entire country. That is 1 midwife for every 10,000 births.

Could you let that sink in for a moment.

By the way- most of these facts are coming from this BBC article.

Worldwide, about 1000 women die every day giving birth.

In India, the infant mortality rate is 52 deaths for every 1000 births. 254 women die for every 100,000 births. 

I am not ok with that. I hope that you are not ok with that. This makes me mad.

I am not ok with women dying all around the world from childbirth.

And it makes me mad when we start talking about how bad the US health care is because our infant mortality is 6 for every 1000 births. Obviously, that is not good, but we need to see the rest of the world.

This world is broken, but we can help make it less broken.

We know things about how our bodies work that women living in remote villages in Afghanistan, India and Rwanda have no way of knowing.

We have access to education and health care that these women couldn't even dream of.

So what are we going to do with it?

I don't know what all this means for you. I don't know what all this means for me. I desperately want to be in India. Adding this schooling could add 3 more years onto my time here. Could I wait 5 years?

I'm sitting in my bed and just looked up at a picture of sweet Heena and thought, can I wait 5 years to be with you? 2 is hard enough.

And so I'm thinking through all this. I will be praying through it. Is this really what God wants for me?

I'm asking that you think through this with me. All my friends out there in the nursing school/ heading to med school, could this be where God wants you to serve?

We need people in health care here, but I think we can safely say that they need them more.

Will you think about this with me?

And also- this is totally part of orphan care also. how many of those 1,000 women that died today in childbirth do you think had 1, 2, or 3 kids already at home. Who is going to care for them now?

Maybe we can stop orphans from being made. Wouldn't that be amazing?!

If I find myself half-carelessly taking 

lapses for granted, 

"Oh, that's what they always do,"

"Oh, of course she talks like that, he acts like that,"

then I know nothing of Calvary love."

If I can easily discuss the shortcomings 

and the sins of any;

if I can speak in a casual way even 

of a child's misdoings, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Daily If

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, 

talk of their weak points

in contrast perhaps with what I 

think of as my strong points; 

if I adopt a superior attitude, 

forgetting "Who made thee to differ? 

and what hast thou that thou hast not received?"

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

Great words from Isaiah

Is not this the fast that I choose;

to loose the bonds of wickedness, 

to undo the straps of the yoke, 

to let the oppressed go free, 

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry 

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Isaiah 58: 6-7 

Daily "If"

My blog has been sitting pretty quiet for a while. I haven't forgotten about it, I've just been trying to think of something to write. I don't want to just post nonsense things on here, I want this blog to have a little bit of a purpose.

I do still have some things to share with you all from my summer, I'm just trying to figure out a way to word them.

But until then, I'm going to start something new. Last year, I posted a picture every day-I'm not doing that again. That got old really fast haha.

This summer my sister gave me the book If by Amy Carmichael*. Its just a short book of "If...then..." statements that are really great and convicting. And so, each morning I'm going to share with you the next "if" statement. If you want, you can check here in the morning for the "Daily If" and then allow your heart and mind to meditate on it throughout the day.

*If you don't know anything about Amy Carmichael, you should look her up. She is one of my spiritual heroes. She lived and worked in Southern India, providing a home for girls (and eventually boys) who had been sold to the local temple. She worked there without furlough for over 50 years until her death. I wrote a short article about her life in the last edition of Virtuous Woman here at UNC.

Also, besides the Daily If, I am going to be trying to memorize scripture. And so, I'm also going to be posting the verses that I am memorizing on here. Right now, I'm just going to memorize a rather random stack of verses that my sister gave to me years ago. I may eventually get a little more systematic about it.

I hope that you will find these two things beneficial and meaningful to you. I know it will be for me.

So here's our first "Daily if."

If I have not compassion on my fellowservant, 

even as my Lord had pity on me, 

Then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

And my first verse is going to be 2 Corinthians 12:9

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 

I have the best major!

And you should all be jealous!!

Just kidding.

I did just want to take a second and point out that I have the best major ever!!

Seriously, my homework has been to read a kids novel and blog about it-- 2 of my favorite things!!

Finally, the work that I'm doing, I can actually see myself using!

I'm not going to lie- I was a little overwhelmed the first week of classes. Will I be able to do everything that they are asking of me? What if I'm terrible at teaching? I can't change my major now (like that was ever a thought for the past 2 years).

What if I fail?

But after a few pep talks to myself and, more importantly, getting some serious reassurance from the Lord, I can say that I am so happy with what I am doing. God has a purpose for me being here. He wants me to learn these things. He has a plan for how I am going to use them in my life. There is a reason He put me in this program and didn't just send me straight to India.

And now I am in absolute school heaven! I love the people in my classes. I love that I am going to be with the same 30 people for the next 2 years. I love that I will actually get to know them and build relationships with them!

I'm happy that I finally get to be with children! I finally get to be in a classroom, to see how a school operates. 

I'm just so excited!!

oh, and I get to read Harry Potter for class!!! Dream come true!!