Thank you for your gift and for supporting volunteers like me in the fight against global poverty. Gifts like yours will soon be helping me to work with new mothers and babies in Ethiopia. I have always wanted to work overseas in a developing country and use my skills to help people; this will be my first experience of working and living abroad so I’m both terrified and excited! During my last day at work in the UK before leaving for Ethiopia, it struck me how different my working life is going to be and all the things like medicine and machines we take for granted here in the UK.
Why I’m sharing my skills
• In Ethiopia only 10.8% of babies are delivered by a skilled professional and only 34% of women receive antenatal care.
• The maternal mortality rate is 676 per 100,000 live births (compared with 12 per 100,000 in the UK), this is a shocking difference.
• The major causes of maternal deaths are obstructed labour, ruptured uterus, severe pre-eclampsia or eclampsia and complications related to abortion.
