For Dr. Jean Chamberlain, her work to help mothers in Africa is about giving women a voice.
“Mothers are buried and their stories are never told,” Chamberlain told the Record. “With maternal mortality, in the western world, it’s easy to think, ‘it’s never going to happen to me, or to anyone I know.’ And that’s the disconnect.
“As believers, Christ tells us, yes, love. But in Proverbs, we are told to speak for those who have no voice. For me, that’s been the driving force for my passion on this issue.”
Chamberlain is the founder and executive director of Save the Mothers, an organization based in Uganda promoting maternal health through education, public awareness and advocacy. They do this through their two-year Master of Public Health Leadership program, which trains and educates professionals already practicing in the fields of medicine, law, media, education and in faith communities. More than 400 people have taken part in the program.
The goal is to reduce the number of maternal and infant deaths. According to STM, about 397,000 babies die each year in Sub-Saharan Africa on the day they are born, and 16-20* mothers in Uganda die every day during childbirth—the same number that die in Canada in a year.
“The message I want Canadians to understand is these are preventable deaths,” said Chamberlain.
Chamberlain moved with her journalist husband, Thomas Froese, to Uganda in 2005. She divides her time between the East African country and Hamilton, Ont., where she teaches at McMaster University. They have three children. (Froese has a blog where he chronicles life as a dad in Uganda. Visit dailydad.net.)
She first went to Uganda in 1998 with the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada—an opportunity, according to her, “to get my feet wet.” She then spent time in Yemen, as well as Zimbabwe, Pakistan and several others, learning the issues facing mothers in developing countries.
“It is a common theme that mothers are dying not because they don’t have the technology, but because they’re not valued enough to make sure the basic requirements needed to save lives are in place.”
So, Chamberlain and her Ugandan colleagues brainstormed the training-leaders model that addresses systemic issues around women’s health—specifically their value (“Are you willing to spend 10 bucks to save your wife’s life?”); fatalism (“Often times in the church, it’s never promoted that women are worth saving. Don’t just sit and pray, but get up and do something! They leave it up to fate or God to see what happens”); and issues around family planning (“Pastors who think a man is great because he fathered 30 children—‘be fruitful and multiply’—actually, it’s irresponsible”).
They’re also teaching the importance of planning ahead, so a family can start saving money if a C-section or life-saving drugs are needed during childbirth; helping to change the status of women within the culture so that their lives are more highly valued; starting best practices in birthing hospitals; and giving mothers a safe and positive experience of birth.
Despite huge challenges, Chamberlain maintains hope.
“I’m seeing things change, expectations change. Now they don’t expect mothers to die. Many think pregnancy is a woman’s battle; some go to battle and don’t come back. So if a mother doesn’t come back, it’s part of life. But that expectation is changing—mothers shouldn’t die!”
Chamberlain said there are many things Canadians can do to help. There are “vision trips,” where interested people can travel to Uganda to “get a vision; to go so you can come back and speak about what you saw.” Save the Mothers also offers an annual internship program in Uganda to two interns who have completed an undergraduate degree. There are also Save the Mothers Walks held on Mother’s Day weekend at various places across Canada. (Visit savethemothers.org for more information.)
Chamberlain believes deeply in STM’s focus on training local leaders to be ambassadors for change.
“If I have any legacy of what I’ve done, it’s that I haven’t come in and tried to do it for people, but rather trained leaders to take it on themselves. I can’t be responsible anymore. We have to train them and let them do it.”
Chamberlain will be the keynote speaker at next year’s National Presbyterian Women’s Gathering, sponsored by the Women’s Missionary Society, to be held outside of Toronto from May 19-22, 2017. (Visit womensgathering.ca for more information.)
