MINISTRY IMPACT REPORT

SURVIVAL

Winter 2016-2017

SURVIVAL - MINISTRY IMPACT REPORT

For women living in poverty, giving birth can be a dangerous and frightening experience. Every year in the developing world, 303,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, 2.6 million babies are stillborn and 2.7 million babies die during the first 28 days of life. Tragically, most of these deaths could easily be prevented simply by giving mothers access to the quality health care they need.

But thanks to your generosity, the story is changing. Your support of Compassion’s Survival initiatives is empowering local churches around the world to care for pregnant mothers and babies during this critical life stage, setting them on the path to a bright and healthy future. Through activities such as offering home-based prenatal care, providing income-generation opportunities for mothers, and connecting young families with vital medical services, you are saving lives and giving children the best possible advantage of a healthy, fulfilled life in Jesus Christ.

The following stories show the results your generous investment is creating in lives all over the world. We hope they encourage your heart and bless you.

In the rural community of Cabacungan in the Philippines, community services are scarce. At the tiny health center, there isn’t even a doctor. Services there are free, but women must make a substantial “donation” for medical assistance in

delivering their babies or for health screenings. This means that even the most essential medical care is out of reach for many families. The result is that mothers often give birth at home, without a trained birth attendant, risking infection and other complications.

Marilyn Diamante is one of the pregnant mothers who couldn’t afford to attend the health center in Cabacungan. Her husband works as a laborer in the sugarcane fields, earning just $4.45 (USD) per day. But when Compassion opened a survival center in her neighborhood, everything changed.

STANDING IN THE GAPAt the survival center, staff members arrange for appropriate medical care and provide invaluable advice. The center stocks medicines and vitamins that are vital to the health and well-being of new mothers and babies, and crucially, it provides birth attendants to assist during childbirth. The survival center even covers the health center “donation” and the cost of screenings.

Today, the survival center is caring for 40 mothers and their babies, ensuring the infants are healthy and offering the mothers opportunities to learn income-generation skills and to grow spiritually. Thanks to your generous support of Compassion’s Survival initiatives, with the help of a birth attendant Marilyn gave birth to a healthy baby.

“The Survival Program paid the health center after I delivered my baby, and it gave me medicine and vitamins,” Marilyn says. “I am very thankful because my husband and I could not pay it.”

PROTECTING MOTHERS AND BABIES

MARILYN’S STORY: GIVING BIRTH IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT

When Compassion opened a survival center in her neighborhood, everything changed.

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CREATING A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY FOR MOTHERS IN GHANA

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

90 percent

1,839

94 percentof babies born within a normal

weight range (compared to an average of 80-85 percent

globally)

mothers made a first-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ

of babies were delivered with the assistance of a

professional birth attendant (compared to an average of

75 percent globally)

Poverty puts mothers and babies at tremendous risk, and they frequently have to fight just to survive from day to day. Your support is making it possible for local churches to provide critical support services to these families, accomplishing the following over the past six months:

Berlinda Odzeyem is one of the staff members at the Klo-Agogo Apostolic Child Survival Program, which operates out of a new survival center in a small community in Ghana. With the assistance of one other staff member and nurses from a

local clinic, the survival center regularly holds group meetings for new mothers on topics such as breastfeeding, nutrition, family planning and child care. Center staff also conduct home visits to mothers and babies who are unable to travel to the clinic.

“God has proven Himself strong and merciful since the survival center first opened,” says Berlinda, “and we shall forever remain grateful for His love.”

Because of your generous support of Compassion’s Survival initiatives, the center is now serving 48 mothers and 50 young children. In addition to medical care and child care instruction, families also receive monthly food and vitamin supplements, income-generation skills training and spiritual guidance. As a result, the precious children now have a firm foundation on which they can build a bright and healthy future.

2,054babies born

(1,976 at full term)

Thank you for your commitment to caring for vulnerable mothers and babies around the world. Because of your generosity, thousands of babies are beginning their lives in safe environments, where they will be nurtured and surrounded by Christ’s love. Instead of fighting just to reach their first birthday, these children will have the best opportunity possible to grow up to be healthy, fulfilled adults.

Your investment in Compassion’s Survival initiatives is being directed toward communities with the most vulnerable mothers and children around the world. We are deeply grateful for your heart for these little ones and their mothers, and we pray that God continues to bless you for your partnership in this sacred work.

THANK YOU!

HOPE RETURNS“I am thanking God so much. I had lost hope. The survival program has brought hope back to me. The program provides my child and me with healthcare and each month, a food kit. I have learned how to take good care of my child.”

— Sonia Hilaire, mother in Haiti

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