Sharron Zimmerman introduced Kathy Mulder and our guest speaker Ninottee Ludin from Haiti, here on behalf of the Grace Birthing Center of northern Haiti and the International partnership that has grown with the assistance of Midwife Kathy Mulder of Traverse City.
Ludin spoke passionately of the continuing challenges facing the people of Haiti. Challenges that she saw herself working to overcome. Her focus is on the education of the young women and reducing their rate of pregnancy especially among teens so that they may be better prepared for the responsibility they are taking on.
She is also establishing a the Grace Birthing and Education Center to ensure as many babies as possible are born under the professional care of trained midwives. Ms. Ludin worked hard to overcome great odds against her to educate herself and advance herself as a translator but desired to do more. Through her meeting the Mulders a vision arose and she has pursued it with all she has, building up strong international affiliations and tying it to the region she hopes to impact.
These are the Goals of the Center and Ms. Ludin:
- Build and Educational center that will provide opportunity for more classes with adequate seating and with an office and prenatal examination room and restrooms
- Use a vehicle to travel to homes for birth and post-partum care
- Continue to develop community relations in Haiti
- Seek funding for the Birth Center (estimated at $200,000-250,000)
- Investigate the use of solar power to provide electricity for the center
- Develop the means to make the center self-sustaining (Beekeeping is their first step along that path)
A great deal of work has been done so far, but a great deal more is yet to do. A fascinating look inside a place so near to us, yet a place of desperate poverty and need. Presented as part of World Community Service.
