Run for Life

Barry McDonald will run across the nation of Haiti in January 2013, a distance of 315 miles covered in 12 days of running. The event is called Run for Life - Haiti.
Imagine running twelve marathons in a row. Imagine running in the third world. Running for no prize, no award, no fame, no earthly reason to run so hard except one. A painfully simple reason. Running is the best way Barry McDonald - a 35 year-old Australian - can help the tens of thousands of women in Haiti in need of better quality healthcare. Help women who bear children on dirt floors, in fields, and in dingy dark rooms.
He is running, as a fundraiser, to build a maternity and education facility at Heartline Haiti's compound.
(from the Run for Life website)

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In Haiti, so many women deal with issues such as malnutrition and high blood pressure, as well as the threat of diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and cholera -- all of which understandably increase the risk of complications during pregnancy, labor and delivery. Due to the lack of a good health care system (and difficulty in obtaining access to what is available), many Haitian women are left without the assurance of being able to receive good and timely medical care even in moments of desperate need. Most pregnant women have little choice but to give birth at home, and truly, unless there is a major medical need, giving birth at a Haitian hospital is not a preferable option. When you go to a hospital in Haiti, you have to provide everything: from your food and bedding to your medicine and even i.v. bags. Everything. As to emotional support and encouragement, it's nonexistent. Can you imagine? This is why what Heartline does, what Heartline provides, is so valuable. They treat their women with utmost dignity and respect. They walk with them each step of the way. They teach and train and encourage. They care for these ladies physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Lives are not only being changed, but they are saved because of this program. I truly cannot say enough about Heartline; if ever there was a cause to support, a ministry to come alongside and support, this is it.

Starting next week, Barry will be running 315 (315!!!) miles across Haiti to raise money to build a new maternity center for Heartline. The new maternity center will allow for the current program to be expanded to a second location, in order to be able to provide prenatal care, midwifery services, postpartum care, and education for even more women. Having spent time at Heartline, I have seen firsthand the quality of care given to each and every woman in the program and the passion to serve these women well: 

We care deeply about prenatal care and each woman's pregnancy and delivery.  We care even more about love.  We want our program and staff to client ratio to always allow us to get to know each woman fairly well by the time she is ready to deliver. We want each Thursday to be seen as an opportunity to invest time  in their lives, their stories, their pain and struggle. The very best and the very hardest part of the program is making time to truly hear from them and build relationships. (From this post by Tara Livesay)

Would you consider making a donation toward the new maternity center? Barry's goal is to raise $800,000 with this Run for Life. As part of the fundraising effort, many people from around the world are hosting events or running their own races. I, too, am joining in on this and will be running a half-marathon at the end of February, and I've created a fundraising page here. You also can donate from the link at the top right of this page. Thanks in advance for supporting Heartline and helping to make a difference in the lives of Haitian women and babies!

For more information on the importance of maternal health care, see this post.