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Helping others makes you happy!
[Right-hand image] Including the extension: the MHM Hospital with its training centre.
The saying comes from a postcard I received 25 years ago, which now hangs in my kitchen.
Once again, we have witnessed miracles happening!
Our hospital was decorated with blooming Madagascan brooms for the opening.
Dear friends and supporters,
2018 was certainly the most eventful year in the charity’s history. So many incredible things have happened: the sudden start of construction, being awarded the ‘Golden Bild der Frau’ prize, winning the readers’ choice award at the gala in November (Photo 3), and the final day’s work on the building site. And all this on top of our regular MHM programmes, which increased by more than 40 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year: we recorded just under 35,000 treatments and KidsClub participants in 2018. Thank you for every single act of support that made all this possible: voluntary work in Germany and Madagascar, donations of goods and money – MHM thrives on teamwork!
The events of 2019 were every bit as significant as those of 2018. During the first two weeks of January, we were busy with everyone who could lend a hand, setting up the hospital so that we could officially open it on 16 January 2019.
Here are a few facts about our hospital:
Ground-breaking ceremony on 21 March 2018
Interior fit-out completed on 21 December 2018
Grand opening on 16 January 2019
The first birth in the new delivery theatre on 23 January 2019
The first operation in the new operating theatre on 24 February 2019
The first caesarean section in Ambovo on 27 February 2019
Almost 35,000 treatments last year, a hospital that has just been completed and is already full of patients, more than 50 Madagascan staff and often up to 10 volunteers, and patient numbers that continue to rise – our aid is making a difference!
6 January 2019 ~ The official opening of our hospital
After an exciting start to the year, the big day finally arrived on 16 January 2019 – all the hospital’s rooms had been fitted out and were ready to be unveiled and put into use. Alongside the German Ambassador, Dr Gehrig, and the Madagascan Minister of Health, 200 friends and interested members of the public had come to witness the occasion. The speeches given on that day can be viewed and listened to on our YouTube channel. Thank you to Dem Midgley for these videos! Enjoy reliving the day: Watch the videos
Surprises despite technology and good precautions:
Not every crazy week is like the next. In March, we had two surprising experiences in the space of a single week.
1) Marie Claire… had already given birth to two stillborn boys: they had severe malformations, whilst her two daughters are perfectly healthy. When she was pregnant for the fifth time and those experiences were still very fresh in our minds, we sent her for a particularly thorough ultrasound scan to determine whether it was a girl or a boy and whether any malformations could be detected. We were delighted with the results: no malformations and it’s a girl. For months, we monitored Marie Claire and her baby very closely and were overjoyed when she came in to give birth. After a slow labour, the family’s fifth baby was born that morning. As soon as the head emerged, we felt our first sense of relief, as the baby did not have a cleft, unlike her brothers. And then came the big surprise when the baby was fully delivered – it’s a boy! Tears of joy and gratitude. Had we known it was a boy, we would have worried whether he might die before birth again – it seemed obvious that the boys in the family were not healthy.
2) A few days after Marie Claire’s birth… I was called out in the evening to attend a premature birth. 30+3 weeks’ gestation; Laura (the German midwife) was already in the delivery room with the Madagascan team. Just seconds after I arrived, little Miando was born. A mere 1,430 grams. We had our hands full. Laura organised everything to keep the little lad warm, I looked after him, and Nandrianina was with the mum. The woman wasn’t as calm and relaxed as usual; I tried to read her antenatal record to see if I could find any important details. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the afterbirth come out. It all happened within a few minutes. I saw the afterbirth coming – I thought, ‘That’s quite big, though…’ – and suddenly: there was a little arm hanging there. My scream of shock brought Laura rushing back to us, and we discovered that Miando had another brother – Miantso. In all these years, I’ve never experienced anything like this and had to learn that, apparently, even today – despite ultrasound scans and good antenatal care – it’s still possible to overlook a twin. We transferred the two of them to the paediatric clinic, where they’re still today and are being nursed back to health.
here in Madagascar to change the face of the world!
Warm regards, also on behalf of the entire MHM family and all our patients.
