Twenty years after Margaret Voigt presented the idea to the Lutheran Women of Australia’s (LWA) convention to supply birthing kits to Papua New Guinea (PNG), the 2023 birthing kits shipment arrived in Lae in mid-November. The 750 birthing kits will be distributed to various health facilities which are supported by Lutheran Health Services, the health […]

Twenty years after Margaret Voigt presented the idea to the Lutheran Women of Australia’s (LWA) convention to supply birthing kits to Papua New Guinea (PNG), the 2023 birthing kits shipment arrived in Lae in mid-November.

The 750 birthing kits will be distributed to various health facilities which are supported by Lutheran Health Services, the health ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG).

The birthing kits provide for clean and safe deliveries, reducing the chance of infant death or babies developing infection after delivery. This is why the kits are so important and helpful for mothers, particularly those living in the most remote areas.

Many mothers have no choice but to give birth at home in their village, with the assistance of untrained relatives or trained village birth attendants. No health workers are available to give professional medical assistance to a woman when something goes wrong in a village house birth, and it is also very difficult to transfer her to hospital. Because of this limited accessibility to birthing services, PNG has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

Although most of the birthing kits are generously supplied by LWA members, some of the 2023 shipment came from St Martins Lutheran College in Mount Gambier, South Australia. Having learnt about the differences in resources for mothers and babies in PNG compared with most of Australia, Year 9 girls decided to contribute to the gifts provided for PNG women. They bought supplies for, collated and assembled the birthing kits. Some of the girls also embroidered small features on the baby singlets and created cards to give to the mother and new baby.

The students said: ‘We valued undertaking this project so that we could support families who face a potentially stressful birthing process. It was very rewarding knowing that we were doing something to help someone else, even someone we would never meet. We hope that these kits provide help and comfort to the new mothers in Papua New Guinea and we hope to continue supporting this project into the future.’

Once the kits were ready to be shipped, LCA International Mission volunteers Joan and Kevin Koster and students from Endeavour College in Mawson Lakes, South Australia assisted with finalising the packaging, weighing and measuring each box.

LCA International Mission acknowledges and thanks everyone who has contributed towards providing these birthing kits – a life-giving gift of blessings, support, encouragement and hope for the medical staff, communities, women and babies in PNG.

This story was also published in the April 2024 edition of Border Crossings, the magazine of LCA International Mission.

If you would like to consider the opportunity to join God’s mission through the assembling and donation of Birthing Kits, you are invited to phone Erin Kerber on +61 8 8267 7317 or email erin.kerber@lca.org.au. For more information, go to https://www.lcamission.org.au/join-gods-mission/birthing-kits/

Read more stories about our partner church in Papua New Guinea at https://www.lcamission.org.au/category/stories/international-partners/papua-new-guinea/