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The “Mission”

Hey there, thanks for visiting! I’m Allie, an intern physician at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. I recently graduated from Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed my undergrad at UNC Chapel Hill.

In April 2021, I spent a month in Chogoria, Kenya with World Medical Mission and Samaritan’s Purse. While I was there, I was able to learn from and work alongside American and Kenyan physician missionaries and colleagues. Since this time, I have graduated medical school and started working as an intern physician at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. 

After many nights of laying in my Kenyan flat, bothered by the lack of resources and overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness, I transitioned my prayers of asking God what I could do to brainstorming this project. The Lord has given me the talents of planning and orchestrating events, and after many accounts of Kenyan physicians coming to me and making known specific needs without prompting, I knew that God had sent me there for a purpose and a reason. Love & Deliveries Chogoria (L&D Chogoria) is a project for prayer and giving as you are able to the women that Chogoria Mission Hospital supports on a daily basis. It is a project to gather medical supplies, educational pamphlets, and resources to improve the labor process and decrease maternal and infant mortality. It is a mission and goal-oriented project to provide items and funds to equip a people who have dreamt of practicing medicine and caring for patients to modern standards, allowing their full knowledge to be utilized without the limiting factor of scarce resources and suboptimal facilities. 

The “Why”

A few of my experiences in Chogoria, Kenya

As you read further, I would like to share just a few of my experiences while in Chogoria.

My third week there, I was rotating with the Ob/Gyn team in the post-partum ward where all new mothers are placed in a community room with beds lined up in rows. Patients and their new babies co-sleep together in these beds. Because of cultural norms and facility capacity and structure, patients are unable to have their spouse or family member at the bedside while they labor, or even after the baby is born. I witnessed many mothers, in their stained uniform pink gowns, helping one another care for the new infants by holding them while they changed or used the restroom. The lady that caught my eye was a young mother holding another patient’s infant as I looked around her in search of her own newborn. “He’s not there. He died last night,” one of the other medical students told me. I was infuriated! Not at anyone or anything in particular, but I was just angry. Her baby was born at 28 weeks gestation and was being kept alive by a breathing machine, and when the power went out the night before, the machine did not restart when the generator kicked in. The patient had already been told by the chaplain of the loss, and my heart sank to my chest as we made it to her bed. In Kimeru, she relayed that her milk was coming in and that she was stimulated by the crying of the other infants. We educated her on what to do to help, and walked away. Nobody asked her how she felt. The grief was not acknowledged. There are so many things that were wrong in this situation, and very little anyone could do or have done to make it better given the circumstances of life. Why did she go into preterm labor? Could it have been prevented had she seen her obstetrician on a regular basis and if she had all of the routine screenings and imaging? Could the baby have been kept alive if technology had not failed? How will this mother cope and move forward…does she even have a support system or spouse?

A second instance that I want to share is one of a young woman undergoing the labor process alone. There are three to four stalls on the delivery ward, with small sheets that cover the entrance, bugs that crawl across the floor, and holes in the ceiling. There is a tiny bed with a sheet in each room and there is no such thing as continuous monitoring, routine epidurals for pain, birthing balls or peanuts, or anything we might be accustomed to for comfort here in the States. They are also alone. Nursing staff is present and may intermittently rub the patient’s back during a contraction, but usually they are standing outside of the stalls involved in something else. Patients may occasionally have fetal heart checks with a doppler, but that only gives a small glimpse in time of the fetal condition. Furthermore, the patient is not familiar with what the birthing process entails and what will be required of her. I watched a particular woman labor in pain for hours alone, I would go in during most contractions to rub her back and hips until the baby was delivered, all the while trying to put myself in her position, trying to imagine and feel what she must have felt. Sure, some might say it is normal, or “culturally normal” for her to experience labor alone and without anything to numb the pain or reduce the anxiety of the “what-ifs” that every woman endures in childbirth, but the normalization of that doesn’t have to prevent change. I felt so called to do something. So I prayed.

The “Action”

If you have read this far, please take a second to stop reading and ask God how He would have you respond. If it is through prayer, that is more than enough. If it is through using your gift of online-shopping (my personal favorite 😉) and ordering an item off of the list of items below, or giving any amount financially (a dollar can go a long way), my prayer is that you would be obedient. If you choose to invest your prayers, time, or money into this project, please comment or message your email address to me for updates and further prayer opportunities that arise. If you would like to share this project with your church family, small group, or friends and family who may want to contribute in any way, please do so!

My last request is, if this particular project is not of interest to you, but you still wish to give in some way or want to support “boots on the ground,” please read about the long-term missionary families who sacrifice daily to live out a life of service to the Lord in Chogoria, Kenya. The Webber, Horn, and Opare-Addo families are made up of life changing individuals who would love your prayers and support. I have listed the Horn’s information below as they have partnered with me to implement this project and the items sent to make this dream a reality in Chogoria.

ITEMS REQUESTED FOR DONATION:

(A) Birthing ball / (B) peanut ball (for labor process and positioning) starting at $12.99 on Amazon

(C) Fetal dopplers ($30-$60) 

(D) Ultrasound gel ($8 to $11 per bottle on Amazon or Walmart) 

(E) Manual blood pressure cuffs (starting at $10 to $15 on amazon) 

(F) Retractable tape measure (measuring fundal height)

If you choose to donate financially:

If you choose to give financially, Venmo is the preferred payment method with an email confirmation of the payment. Once it is received, you will receive an emailed receipt of your donation amount. The money will be collectively sent to world medical mission as a sum of money directed towards the goals of this project which are to help in funding purchases of continuous monitors, ultrasounds, and renewing the facilities to keep mom and baby safe. It will also go towards printing educational pamphlets in their native languages. 

THINGS TO KNOW IF YOU CHOOSE TO DONATE:
The process of getting items shipped to Kenya (or anywhere in Africa) requires jumping through many hoops and outsmarting the system. To allow items to get there in a timely manner, we use the missionaries that are coming and going to transport items that can easily be packaged into a suitcase and then paying for that luggage to make it overseas. This does require extra money to be used in the shipment of the items and monetary donations can help to make this process possible. The first delivery is expected to be shipped on September 19, 2021 (a little over a month away)!

WHY THESE ITEMS ARE USEFUL:

I have selected items that each patient could use to aid in making the labor process more comfortable and more bearable. Birthing balls can easily be sanitized and used from patient to patient to help in positioning and finding relief as they progress through the stages of labor. Tape measures, fetal doppler’s and gel, and blood pressure cuffs are used on a daily basis to provide good clinical information about the patient and how caregivers should direct management. Financial donations are useful because they provide support in shipping the items, resources for education, facility improvement, and may possibly lead to the modification of facilities so that partners and/or family members can be accommodated during the labor process to help their loved one. Understanding that Chogoria will not experience this change overnight, I am hopeful and expectant that it will touch the lives of those who go through labor in Chogoria hospital and that it may lead them to know the Lord. What greater way to minister than to comfort and pray for the mothers as they bring new life into the world, and the medical team that will facilitate their care? Thank you for your prayers and support. Please reach out to me with any questions or encouragement you may have!

With love,

Allie Brindle, DO

Allison.brindle@icloud.com

Venmo Donations: Love_Deliveries_Chogoria

Shipping Address for Donations:

Love and Deliveries Chogoria

c/o Life Point

2520 Hwy 49 North

Concord, NC  28025

THE HORN FAMILY:

To learn more about Eli & Krista Horn please visit their page, follow them on social media. The link to reach out to them and sponsor them is listed below.

Eli & Krista Horn

https://www.wgm.org/missionary/horn

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First Love&DELIVERY!

Wow!!! I am beyond excited to announce that our first delivery is underway! The items and donations were gathered and handed off to Dr. Steve Winters who is traveling back to Chogoria next week. This is a huge thank you to everyone who has donated and prayed for this project. I wish that I could hug every single person involved. I know this is just the beginning. Please continue to pray for the project and the delivery of the items and for safe travels for Dr. Winters – he has been such a blessing and without him, this first delivery would have been impossible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.