Safe Motherhood kits help deliver babies in Nicaragua

Cheri Mauldin (right), director of Missions of Grace, poses with midwife Dona Camila Mariena. At 89, Mariena has the distinction of delivering more babies than any other midwife in the entire region surrounding Las Salinas, Nicaragua. Mauldin hand-carried Safe Motherhood kits to Mariena.

By Laura Burkey/IMA

Cheri Mauldin, director of Missions of Grace and mother of 10, recently traveled to Las Salinas, Nicaragua.  The missionary hand-carried Safe Motherhood Kits ™ to an 89-year-old midwife, who has the distinction of delivering more babies than any other midwife in the entire region. Although she continues to pass along her institutional knowledge to the younger women, locals still seek her out to deliver their children.

With her husband and 10 children, Mauldin spent nine of her 16 years as a missionary in the medical field in Nicaragua. She trained midwives through local government health posts, helped to deliver babies and even delivered four babies by herself. Even more unbelievable, Mauldin has witnessed villagers use razor blades to cut the umbilical cord.

The Safe Motherhood Kit ™ is designed to be used in unsanitary conditions such as these; giving expectant mothers a chance to fight infection and ensure the safest birth possible.