This quote by the esteemed Captain Jack
Sparrow from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean has been
running through my brain all week. I keep thinking how maybe
somebody has been wanting to donate funds to Casa Compasiva, but has
delayed, thinking that maybe we don't have any critical needs right
now. How wrong they would be! And what an opportune moment this is
to contribute to a worthy cause!
In the last two weeks our clients have
birthed five babies— three in Casa Compasiva, one a planned
hospital birth with our staff, and one a Caesarean after a previous
Caesarean. We are so proud of each one of these amazing ladies,
ranging in age from sixteen to forty-two, who summoned up the
strength and courage to bring new life into the world. And we are so
privileged to be able to participate in their pregnancies-- providing
quality prenatal care, praying and supporting them in their spiritual
journeys, and being at their sides as their babies are born. Every
one of our staff members is loving the challenge!
However, it is not without its cost.
Although our staff considers what they do to be ministry at its
finest, and they serve as a labour of love (pun intended...get it?),
they still need to receive something for their time. Salaries,
though very modest, must still be paid, and the obligatory government
fees and taxes must be allotted. As it says in the King James
Version, “The labourer is worthy of his hire.”
We cannot ask our doctor and midwives
to make their way to Casa Compasiva in the middle of the night to
meet a mama in labour. And then expect them to stay up all night with
her, attend her baby's birth in the wee small hours of the morning,
and then take care of mama and babe post-partum—dealing with the
placenta, eye drops, Vitamin K injections, weighing, bathing, helping
get nursing off to a good start, filling out charts and birth
certificates, and serving breakfast to the happy family. Then after
that to have a quick shower, report for their shift attending all the
day-clients that arrive for their scheduled prenatal visits, teach a
prenatal class, sterilize the instruments used the night before,
disinfect and clean the birth room making it ready for the next mama
who may arrive at any time, and then go home and make supper and care
for their for their family's needs, while preparing for the
possibility of a repeat performance the next night. All of that is
too much for us to ask of them, yet that kind of heroic dedication is
exactly what each one of our staff members displays on a regular
basis--- for an average of $3.00 US per hour! Would you do the same?
Could you?
Even though our doctor and midwives
serve so sacrificially, at the tiniest fraction of what they are
worth, it still adds up. The payment that we receive for birth and
prenatal services does not begin to cover the actual cost of
providing and maintaining those excellent services. I was reminded
of that yesterday as I went on a post-partum visit to
sixteen-year-old Diana's house. Our midwives had spent the night
with her in labour, and then she had her beautiful baby girl on
Friday. Her nineteen year old husband is just beginning to get his
feet under him in terms of dealing with responsibility, and he and
Diana live in one room of her parents' house with all her younger
brothers and sisters there, too. They literally have nothing—except
a lot of love and gratitude for the loving care they received at Casa
Compasiva. They realize that if they had gone to any government
hospital it would have been an automatic Caesarean because of her
age. And three months ago we realized that they had no ability to
pay our regular birth fee, so we had awarded them the “Mother's
Day” free birth “scholarship.” Some of you have contributed to
that “birth scholarship” fund---thank you so much! Your
investment paid huge dividends in a very precious and contented
little family. Now we look forward to providing all their postpartum
care, continuing in relationship with them, and building on the
message of God's love for them through Jesus Christ!
Quality care costs money—it just
does. And our funds are now completely depleted. I do not say that
in despair, but in faith that God has gone ahead of us to provide the
funds needed to pay this week's salaries and other expenses. God has
been faithful in the past, is faithful today, and will be faithful
tomorrow—we know that. And perhaps He wants to use you to show His
faithfulness. So, to paraphrase Captain Jack Sparrow, “If you
were looking for the opportune moment to give to Casa Compasiva
...this is it!”
-Lila Joy
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