Welcome to MOMS' website. Thank you for looking around!
Please contact us if you have questions or comments.
For official info, like nonprofit status and EIN, click Formal Stuff under About MOMS.
What does MOMS do?
MOMS makes a difference. We improve maternal and newborn health by teaching local women to provide excellent maternity care and to make changes in their communities. The women we train earn a government-authorized certificate as Community Health Workers.
The women we trained chose the tagline, "Empowering women to make a difference." They are proud that they make a difference that extends beyond themselves and their families into the whole community. During their meetings, they chant, "MOMS CHWs: Be a role model!! MOMS CHWs: Make a difference!" This is their pledge.
These local women save lives and improve health, which makes their communities a better place to live. That benefit spreads across the country and into the whole world.
In public health, a common concept is that of the burden of disease. Disease, poor health, and poor maternal health affect more than just the person involved. The family and the community are harmed when a person can't work, can't tend to their family, and can't survive. The harm reaches beyond the local town as communities struggle to support themselves in healthy ways. The burden of poor health (and poor health care) reaches far.
MOMS teaches in areas where women have few choices and great need. We were invited to Sierra Leone, West Africa, in 2006. Since then we have trained and certified 824 women across the southeast as Community Health Workers. We teach women to effectively provide care, teach their neighbors, connect their communities to the clinics, and solve problems.
Small international teams (1-3 people) join the Sierra Leonean team once or twice a year for about 6-8 weeks each trip. The international teams supplement the local trainers we certified and continue their education. Our aim is to transition all the teaching to the local teams, and we are getting close!
Each teaching team works carefully to build rapport and be a role model of humility, patience, respect, and excellence.
Above, you see our team after a day in the local clinic in Ngiehun, Lower Bambara Chiefdom, Kenema District, teaching prenatal care. From back and left to right, are Lydia Thomas, Trish Ross, Zainab Massaquoi, Mariama Rogers, Madi Kalbach, Zainab Koroma, and Jitta Rogers Seisay.
Above are Jitta Rogers Seisay, Trish Ross (Mamie Jebbeh), and Zainab Koroma and a horde of small children at a graduation ceremony in Bumbeh, Peje Chiefdom, Pujehun District, Sierra Leone.
Our local staff travel regularly to our training sites to help with problems and rejoice with accomplishments. They travel monthly in the dry season.
Our Leadership Council, including one member elected from each training site, will meet several times in 2024. Their job is to advise each other and the management team about issues and set priorities. They ensure communication within their groups and with local officials.
The graphic below shows our programs and the values they exemplify.
What is next for MOMS?
Our local team is organizing to teach in three sites over the next year or so. They will revisit three of our previous sites, to deepen the bench strength in these areas. MOMS will return to the Lower Bambara Chiefdom and the Niawa Chiefdom in the Kenema District, and to the Luawa Chiefdom in the Kailahun District. All these sites are in the southeastern area among the Mende people.
We'll certify 20-25 people as CHWs in each of the three sites. We will also continue the student teaching process for our three new trainers. The new trainers have passed their exams and must still teach 4-6 more of our modules in the Community Health Worker curriculum. The student trainers are making good progress. We are very happy with them!
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