Reason to Smile

IN MAY 2023, St. Anthony’s Charities received a request for financial assistance to build a new maternity unit at the Good Shepherd Health Centre Angiya, in Angiya, located in the Homa Bay county of Kenya. At that time, the Centre had just one room to accommodate all the women, whether they were in labour, delivery, or recovery. “The room we improvised to be a ward, often exceeded capacity,” explains Sister Gaudencia Wanyonyi, local project manager of the Medical Mission Sisters. “This forced many women to give birth at home without medical supervision, which jeopardises the lives of both the mother and the child. We used to have situations where some women were giving birth on the cold floor, and when births didn’t have complications we had to immediately discharge them because we didn’t have enough space to keep them longer for observation.” In fact, Angiya and the surrounding areas have a high infant mortality rate, and the main goals of the new maternity wing are to reduce the number of home births by increasing the capacity of the ward, and to ensure that mothers remain under medical supervision for 24 hours after birth.

The Medical Mission Sisters – sometimes also known as The Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries – was founded in 1925 by Anna Dengel, originally from Austria, in Washington DC. She had previously served as a medical missionary in what is now Pakistan, but was then part of Northern India. At that time, the practice of medicine by religious institutes was prohibited by canon law, but Dengel pressed ahead with plans, and she was given permission to start a new medical congregation in June 1925. It wasn’t until 1935, though, that the Church changed its regulations, and the Medical Mission Sisters began to open congregations around the world. Today they have branches in many places including Africa, Indonesia, Europe, Pakistan, and South East Asia.

The project to construct the new maternity wing was completed in February 2024 with a financial contribution from St. Anthony’s Charities of €17,000. The wing consists of a first stage room, labour room, deliver room, sluice room, nurses’ station, postnatal room and washrooms. “All expectant mothers in the area had reason to smile after we officially opened our doors,” says Sr. Gaudencia. “The completion of the maternity wing now ensures that the mothers are safe and that they get quality health services. It encourages mothers to attend the clinic and deliver in our facility under the supervision of our skilled health workers.”

Medical equipment

In June 2024, Sr. Gaudencia approached St. Anthony’s Charities a second time. “Despite having a steady flow of patients since we launched the maternity wing, we have been unable to serve mothers effectively before and during delivery due to a lack of medical equipment,” she wrote. “Many of these women come from low socio-economic backgrounds so they still rely on home births because they can’t afford to pay for the maternal health care services elsewhere in private or public health-care facilities. For them, getting the right care can be the difference between life and death. We are facing a financial barrier because the women of Angiya are mostly poor and unable to pay for medical service, which is why I am approaching St. Anthony’s Charities again.”

The equipment that the ward needed to enhance its services included three delivery beds, an oxygen cylinder with gas, a suction machine, a digital weighing machine, five single crank beds with mattresses, bedside lockers, three drip stands, an autoclave, waiting benches, office chair and table, bed linen, and hospital patient gowns. In addition, there was also a need for two rain storage tanks. “Our maternity wing needs a continuous water supply through the year, during the rainy and the driest periods,” says Sr. Gaudencia. “Drought is a disaster that has hit our area many times, and the only way to ensure a sustainable water supply is by harvesting rain water from the roof.” St. Anthony’s Charities provided financial aid of €19,000 towards the purchase of the equipment required and the purchase and installation of the water tanks – this was provided in three instalments.

Water tanks

Each instalment was used to buy a subset of the equipment required, with the second instalment including the purchase and installation of the water tanks. “Your financial support helped us to successfully implement a rainwater harvesting system in our maternity wing setting,” explains Sr. Gaudencia. “We have installed gutters and storage tanks to capture and store rainwater efficiently in order to provide a sustainable water solution in line with environmental goals and cost savings.”

In this second project, there were no difficulties encountered as opposed to those experienced during the construction of the maternity unit. “Heavy rains made our rural roads difficult to transport building materials, while inflation led to the increased cost of these building materials, but we managed to complete that project despite these hindrances,” says Sr. Gaudencia. It was also a relatively short project, starting in June and finishing in August 2024.

Eternal gratitude

As more women from Angiya and the surrounding areas become aware of the maternity ward and its new equipment it’s expected that the number of beneficiaries will also increase. “We’re preparing for a high influx of patients in maternal health-care services,” says Sr. Gaudencia. “We are likely to have around 6,000 mothers and up to 12,000 new-borns benefiting directly from the Good Shepherd Heath Centre Angiya.”

“Thank you for constructing a maternity wing and now providing it with all the essential equipment and furniture we need together with a reliable water supply to enable us to serve our mothers comfortably and efficiently,” concludes Sr. Gaudencia. “The completion of the projects has made our health centre not just impactful, but also deeply meaningful to the local community. Through the generosity of St. Anthony’s Charities and the readers of the Messenger of Saint Anthony we have witnessed the power of compassion in action. It has strengthened our resolve to continue our mission in Angiya. We are eternally grateful.”