Maasai Women's charity fundraising - Safe Motherhood Project

Safe Motherhood Project, Endulen, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Tanzania is a low income sub-Saharan African country with a population of about 40 million. The latest estimation of the maternal mortality rate in Tanzania is 449 women per 100,000 births. The life time risk for a woman to die as a result of pregnancy-related causes is 1 in 24, most commonly from postpartum haemorrhage. In remote areas like the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, despite being a UNESCO World Heritage site, this is considerably higher. Most people live in traditionally- built huts, expectant mothers give birth at home and, by the time labour starts, they are too far away to walk to the hospital. Endulen hospital is the only hospital in the 8,300 square kilometre Ngorongoro Conservation Area and services a catchment population of 72,000 people, mainly Maasai and some Wairaqw and Barabaiq.

The Maternity Waiting Home

In 2010 the construction of a Maternity Waiting Home, funded by a German charity, started with the objective of welcoming women from 35 weeks onwards and providing facilities for a safe birth close to the operating theatre and a doctor should complications arise. Today the building is almost finished, but money is needed to employ traditional birthing attendants, skilled birthing attendants, and to provide transport for the expectant mothers to the home, and to return them to their village afterwards. The hospital's working vehicles are all used for field clinics, so another dedicated vehicle is needed. It could also be used to fetch mothers having difficulties during a home birth.

How you can help

The Maternity ward needs a Landcruiser to transport expecting mothers to the unit and to take them back home with their newborns after. This will require around 10000 dollars to find an old vehicle that is reliably operational. The purpose of this gallery is to raise money for the Maternity Waiting Home and its vehicle in order to help reduce maternal mortality amongst the local population. I shot the images at my expense and am donating them for free. They are priced so that once printing and postage costs have been deducted, each sale will provide 50 euros. The prints are unmarked. Once I have found out how to do it, I will have a running total up here. For more information on the hospital and the home, look here http://www.endulen.de/en