In Her Shoes 2024: Francesca's Story

Every day, more and more Haitians are being displaced from their homes in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Families are being forced to move further North, if not out of the country completely, to escape violence incited by gangs that still have control of Haiti's capital.

Those who haven't been displaced are still highly affected by the ongoing conflict in the South. Many healthcare workers have left the country, leaving those left behind with even fewer resources to care for themselves and their families. 

This is the story of Franchesca, a woman who made it to our Birth Center (primarily on foot) only hours before bringing her daughter into the world. You will learn how Second Mile Haiti still shows up for women and children in Haiti, despite the challenges. 

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Learn more about the ways that we help families in Haiti create sustainability for their lives by visiting our website.

Content warning: Maternal Mortality, Infant & Child Mortality, Discussion of pregnancy, labor, & birth

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This story is shared with the written permission of those involved. 

Chapters

• 1:55 Introduction
• 9:15 Tour of a SMH Birth Center
• 20:22 Meeting Francesca
• 26:40 Francesca in Labor
• 44:00 Chatting with the SMH Team
• 50:11 Here comes Baby!

Transcript

Hi and welcome to Haiti Rising, a podcast by Second Mile Haiti, where we take you behind the scenes and into the stories of people like you living full, unique and potentially very different lives in a place you might not get to visit very often. It's a podcast for people who like learning and adventure. You're listening to the second episode. First, we need to start this episode with a shout out. Many of you listening are taking part in the second annual In Her Shoes Global 5KA fundraiser, and this is on the word fun where every step you take is for her future. Who is she? You're about to find out. But first, it means so much to us that you are here with us. Those listening in real time may be running. Or maybe you're walking today. Or maybe you're moving in some other way. Can I just start by saying you're awesome? Thank you for putting on your shoes. You did it. You're here. And we can't wait to do this together. Our hope is that you come away from this episode feeling like you know more than you did when you started. We also hope you feel hopeful and maybe even inspired as a result. Now, if you're wearing your shirts today, be sure to take some pictures. Even if you're not wearing them, take some pictures. Tag us in your post. You can email us your pictures. We want to share those so that we can make this a yearly thing. I think we're ready to start. So those of you participating in the five K, you invited your friends, right? If not, that's okay. You can forward them this podcast link and have them listen to it later. So if you've already been a part of the Second Mile Haiti community for a long time, use this next minute to test your knowledge. So who are we? We're Second Mile Haiti, a community of doers who believe that everyone should have their basic needs met. Together, we're creating meaningful change for women, children, and communities in Haiti through health care, education, and community building projects. We've been doing this since 2012. We help impoverished families access medical care so that children can survive acute undernutrition and families aren't separated. Our M.O. is investing in caregivers. We help these same families grow food and start businesses so that they can care for their children well into the future. We also invest in communities. We prevent maternal and newborn deaths and give families a strong start by placing midwife led birth centers in communities. We currently have two campuses where we have both birth centers and malnutrition treatment centers in one spot. Finally, we stand with communities by funding projects that improve access to health, safety, infrastructure and education. We're funded by individuals with contributions from small businesses, family foundations and grant makers who believe, like we do, that all people deserve to thrive. So welcome. There is no second mile Haiti without you. Let's dive in. My name is Amy and I'll be your guide today. I wrote this story and was a part of interviewing its featured guests. And I live in Haiti. In fact, right now I'm struggling to record this audio in a room with very little air circulation. Our campuses are totally powered by solar energy, which is convenient because here on the southern side of the northern hemisphere, on an island in the Caribbean, we have a lot of sun. But in order to prioritize light and internet, we don't have AC. Normally I'd have the wall fan on high, but for the benefit of your listening experience, the fan is off and the windows are open. That being said, you will for sure hear some birds and goats and maybe even an airplane or two during the course of this recording. This is being recorded in the fall of 2024. It's currently 90 degrees for our Fahrenheit friends or 30°C for the rest of you, and humidity is at 65%. So if you're walking somewhere warm today, I definitely feel you. And we've got this. Yeah. Yeah, we totally got this, I think. Yeah. For sure. Okay. But if I go silent, send electrolytes. I'm on one of our two maternity center campuses in a rural community just outside of Cap-Haitien, one of Hades largest and most populated cities. In fact, the maternity center is one of my favorite places to be. Which is a good thing because I do live on campus. That's Jen. She's the executive director of Sigma Haiti, and without her, this episode would not exist. The five K and the accompanying podcast were her idea, which will surprise no one who knows Jen. She lives on campus, too. And in case it isn't already blatantly clear where the founders of Second Mile Haiti and we are super passionate about this project. Our goal today is for you to feel what it's like to be in this very special place where women get the care they need and deserve, where families are supported in holistic ways, and where our team goes out of their way, working together to make the seemingly impossible possible every day. So, as we say in Haiti, Bienvenu, come on in. I'm going to give you the lay of the land in the best way I know how, through a tour. We're starting at the front gate. It's big. It's a ruby red color, and it's open just wide enough for about four people, or maybe three if they're expecting to walk through side by side, outside. And just inside the gate, you may see several dozen pregnant bellies in various stages of growth getting checked in for their various appointments. You'll probably see a few partners resting on motorcycles or reclining on brightly painted cement benches, waiting for their people to be finished inside. If you look down the road and need the direction, you may see a few more clients making their way in groups of 2 or 3, possibly carrying babies and holding umbrellas to shade them from the sun. Some people may be speed walking to try to get center first, because people are seen on a first come, first serve basis. Others may be nearing the end of their pregnancy and they're just doing the best they can. If it's a weekday, you'll for sure. See vendors selling food outside because pregnant women love to eat and the people caring for them get hungry. You've got Delta selling cold drinks. You've got woodland selling peanuts, boiled eggs and bananas. A very common breakfast. There's Nellie selling paté and fried plantain with pickles and lewdness, selling a more substantial meal of rice and beans. This food sells out every day, so if you want want lunches are selling, get out there early on Thursday, which is the day we see more than 100 women coming to prenatal education. The vendors are even more diverse. You can get yourself some flavored shaved ice. Texas friends, you would feel right at home. Actually, on that note, I think this is a good time to stop and say that if you're walking right now or participating in the five K in any way. Thank you so, so much. We're so glad you're here. I hope this audio puts a little pep in your step. Truly, to anyone listening, thank you for taking the time and you're going to be an expert on these subjects before you know it. Now I think everyone deserves a little treat. So let's make a quick stop for some Haitian shaved ice. Our choices are Grenada, which is a passion fruit flavor. We've also got strawberry and lime, and it looks like our final option is. And now this flavor may be more of an acquired taste, but I promise it's delicious. Okay, now that we've got our shaved ice in hand, I think you're ready for the rest of the tour. Just inside the gate we have what's called the kiss. This is where people come every day to check in. If you speak French, that word probably sounds familiar. Essentially, this is where people pay for services. If you're wondering whether or not we charge for services, the answer is yes. Slash no. While it would be lovely to provide totally free care, it's actually really important that we do charge something for the services that we offer at our maternity centers. We've structured a system where you pay one small fee, equivalent to about $3.50 USD for your first visit, and that includes your pregnancy test testing for infection. You'll also get your hemoglobin tested to rule out anemia, and you'll even get an ultrasound if you come early enough in your pregnancy. All the medications and supplements that you may need are also included. Now that you're an established client, at the next visit, you'll pay an even smaller fee. You'll pay roughly $2.50 USD on your second, third, and fourth prenatal visits. Again, anything you may need during these visits medications, additional testing, even an IV drip if you arrive dehydrated and even transportation to a local hospital. If you arrive in some kind of crisis that may require hospitalization, everything is included. Now, let's say you're coming back for your fifth visit. Congratulations. You've made it, and you don't have to pay a thing. Your visit is totally free. You get the delightful experience of waiting in line at the kiss and being told that you do not owe any money today. You do still have to wait in line, because you'll need to grab a number, as clients are seen on a first come, first serve basis. But once you have that, head on over to the clinic waiting area. Grab yourself a seat in the shade behind the wall of hibiscus flowers. You can even put your feet up if they're space clients who have come to the center for a prenatal appointment, as well as mothers coming in for a postpartum checkup with their newborns, and those coming in for family planning and free contraceptive services all weigh in the same area. This is a great time for women to catch up with their friends, whether it's relating over the stresses of possessing a uterus, decompressing over the discomforts of pregnancy. Taking in some advice from a seasoned parent. There's always someone to talk to who's been where you are right now. And despite as many as 100 bodies in the area at any given time, it doesn't get too hot. In fact, there is a delightful breeze flowing in and out of the clinic pavilion thanks to strategic placement of these buildings and the intentional architectural design of our maternity centers. It's actually really cool. All right, I'm sensing that you can't exactly picture what the maternity centers look like. So let's take a walk on through. We're gonna back up a few steps and imagine that we've just finished checking in at abacus. If we were coming here for an appointment, we'd follow the signs to the clinic waiting area. But if we're here because of an emergency, or if you've arrived because you're in labor, we take a sharp left and walk about 20 paces to the birthing rooms. Here you'll be greeted by a nurse or a midwife from our team, and they're going to ask you a number of questions to figure out exactly what you need in this moment, including. When did your contractions start? Has your water broke? What else is going on? Do you have any symptoms of pre-eclampsia? They're going to check you over and help you figure out whether or not it's really time for the big show. As we walk through this area, you'll see a bathroom to the left, but really, that's just one of many spots around the center that can be used for the purpose of birth. The next room to our left has three beds inside. It's used for a few different purposes, but typically an especially at this time of year. Those beds are full with women who have just given birth in the last 24 hours. You'll see tired looking mothers, tiny fresh pink babies and doting grandparents, aunties, best friends, dads and partners. Between these two rooms, there's a whiteboard sitting on a table and leaning up against the wall. This board lists the names of the clients who are in active labor, others who are still in early labour, others who are being monitored for inductions and pre-eclampsia, and still others who are in that 24 hour window after birth. Across from these two rooms is where most of the hard work happens. This space is an open air pavilion, protected by privacy screens, and covered so that women who are labour and their support people get plenty of fresh air while they do the hard work of bringing a child into the world. There are stools that midwives can grab quickly, and other tools like birth balls, that help birthing people stay as comfortable as possible through the ups and downs of the birth process. As we walk through this space, we might have to navigate around an IV pole or sidestep a duo walking out their labor pains. You'll see support people spoon feeding their loved ones between contractions, and you'll hear the sounds that typically accompany all the stages of labour. The next room is super important. It's the toilets and the shower, but I probably don't need to go into those details. At the very minimum, we always have at least one midwife and one nurse at the centre 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. The next room is our supply depot. It's where we keep necessary medications and equipment like oxygen, stethoscopes, Doppler and emergency kits in stock. Now we've arrived at Jen's pride and joy. This is the power room. We have 40 batteries that store power we get from our solar panels that sit just atop this roof. This is where the team can go when they need to figure out how much power is available, and what kinds of things we can do with that power. Using solar power is a dance that our team has learned through trial and error to do quite well. For example, before the midwives start the process of sterilizing, which takes a significant amount of power, they'll check in with the operations team to make sure that there's enough sun coming in that the batteries are sufficiently charged, and that there's nothing else going on that might be using a lot of power at the same time. If we walk straight, the air is even more glorious. The breeze is blowing, and we've got lemongrass lining a brick path with cashew trees, creating a canopy overhead. And in about 15 more paces we arrive at the education center. This is another outdoor covered pavilion where we have plenty of seating for women to wait for their appointments, but on Thursdays, it's standing room only for our education classes led by one of our midwives. Every second Wednesday, we do child's immunizations in this space, and those days are what you'd expect. I'll let the sounds speak for themselves. These infant and child immunization days are always packed because of how hard we work to make sure that we always have supplies available for kids in Haiti to get immunizations. Haiti's child mortality rate is really high. In fact, 1 in 10 children won't reach the age of five. By working with the Haitian Ministry of Health to provide these child immunizations. We help combat those odds. Despite the noise, it's beautiful to see so many healthy babies and toddlers in the arms of their caregivers, and to know that they're getting services that are absolutely essential in Haiti, like vitamin A supplementation and medication for deworming in addition to the essential immunizations. But it's noisy, so let's keep going. Now that we've weaved our way through the people, we've arrived at the kitchen. The kitchen is Leo's domain. Leo is a gorgeous soul in her 60s, with a warm smile and eyes that twinkle from sunup to sundown. Today she's making sweet potato soup because it's Friday. And every Friday we make a huge batch of sweet potato soup using sweet potatoes from our garden to serve up to the pregnant women who are here for their prenatal appointments. The purpose of sweet potato Soup Friday is twofold. First, the sweet potatoes we grow on our campus are different from the standard sweet potatoes you can find around this part of Haiti. What you can typically find is a white flesh sweet potato. But what we've recently started growing on our campus as a flesh that is a sweet orange color, one that you're probably accustomed to. It's a yam, if you will, and that orange color makes these sweet potatoes highly, highly nutritious and packed with many of the essentials that a growing fetus needs. Sweet Potato Soup Fridays offer a little energy boost for the clients, and a chance for us to share some information about this new sweet potato variety and find out if anyone is interested in planting sweet potatoes at their homes. One of second mile Hades current projects is to always have these sweet potatoes growing on our campuses. This makes it possible for us to share cuttings with anyone who wants to try their hand at growing this super sweet potato at home. Now that we've said hi to Leo and past the kitchen, we can take another right? And we'll be walking through a grassy open area with a straight view of that front gate. To the left we have the maternity center extension that we built in 2023. It's home to three more multipurpose rooms that we use for different reasons depending on our needs. I think it's time for a water break and a bit of a pep talk. If you're listening to this while you're doing the five K, keep going. You're doing great. In fact, I think you're halfway done. I'm not basing this on anything factual or objective, but it feels like you're heading around the bend once again. Thank you so much for doing this with us. Now that you understand the vibrant and extra special energy you can find on this campus, and now that you understand the lay of the land, I think you're ready to meet Francesca. Last year is now back at home, and you're hearing the voice of Francesca, a soft spoken woman in her 20s who gave birth to her first and only child in May of 2024. We invited her back to recount her journey with all of its twists and turns. We told her that we'd have people listening that wanted to understand what women like her go through during pregnancy and birth, and she agreed to share her voice and her story with all of you. She came with her daughter, Chris Doria, who toggled between sleeping, being fully enamored by our discussion, and wanting to be fed. Very typical of two and a half months old. I knew a little bit about Francesca from hearing about her birth from different members of our team. I remember, but coming away from this interview, I really felt like I got to know her in a more profound way, and I grew even more convinced, if that's possible, of the real necessity of midwifery led maternal healthcare and places like Second Mile Haiti. Here, Francesca is telling us about her family and where she grew up. Francesca lived with her parents and her siblings until the age of 19. At 19 years old, Francesca was living with her sister when, like most 19 year olds, she became interested in dating. Her sister wasn't okay with her having a boyfriend and asked her to leave. That's when Francesca moved up north to Cap-Haitien to reconnect with some of her other older siblings and her mom, who had made that journey before she had. She lives in an area of rural Haiti that's just about a 35 minute walk from our cat patient maternity center. Francesca attended most of her prenatal appointments and made the journey to and from education classes on foot. That's also how she got here for this interview, and it's also how she attempted to make her way to the center in the heat of her labor. That is until things changed. But we'll get to that in a minute. My first question for Francesca was how did you hear about motherhood, and specifically the maternity center, and what made her decide to come for the first time to seek prenatal care? Francesca said that a lot of people where she lived to talk about the maternity center and the services we offer. And when one of her neighbors heard that she hadn't been getting any prenatal care, she told her, just trust me. Go to the maternity center that's down the road. It's not expensive and you'll get really good care. So Francesca took the advice of her neighbor and found what they'd said to be true. I came back, this is her talking about her experience that first day. She said that she felt welcome from the moment she stepped through the big red gate. She remembers being really surprised by what she saw and experience. In fact, she uses the word bizarre to describe the treatment she received. She says, I found the treatment to be so bizarre, so out of the ordinary, so different from anything I'd ever experienced, she said. It was the way the staff spoke to her. Everybody from the first person she spoke to when she walked through the gate, to the nurses and midwives who took care of her during her visit, from taking her vital signs to doing the full evaluation for first time prenatal client. Now, this is a detail that's important to Francesca's story. It's important for you to know that her first visit with us was in her third trimester. Now, there are a lot of reasons why someone in Haiti might be pregnant for 3456, six, seven, eight, even nine months before they see a healthcare provider for the first time. Jen says it best plays a big factor. You know, whether it's just the price of consultations. But even the transportation getting to and fro. A lot of it has to do with money. They might not have the finances or transportation is so difficult, and a lot of people just fear how they'll be treated as someone who may not be able to pay for services. Here in Haiti, prenatal care is available, but it's not always high quality, and it's not always comprehensive enough to really discover the serious complications that lead to the ridiculously high maternal mortality rate in Haiti. Right now, one in every 283 live births, meaning a baby is born, one mother dies. That's really high. Um, in Canada, for example, that number is one in almost 10,000. Compare that to 1 in 283. That means one in less than 300 babies who are born lose their mother in that process. So Francesca had valid reasons to be concerned about carrying a baby and giving birth. She wasn't sure how she would be able to take care of a baby when she doesn't have much family support. Her partner tries to find daily ways to make money loading trucks or working as a laborer, but he doesn't always bring back enough to meet their needs. And and she shared honestly that there are days that she'll go to bed hungry. She said, how will I nourish this child if I can't nourish myself? But she really felt like she got a lot of different messages from strangers who came into her path during her pregnancy that really assured her that somehow or another, the support would be there. And when she got to our maternity center, it's like a mile ahead. That was true for her. After that first visit, Francesca made it to two more appointments before she went into labour. Francesca went into labour on a Wednesday. Her first contractions came in the morning and by the late afternoon they'd really intensified. Her water had broken and all the signs that she had learned in those prenatal classes were pointing to one thing. It was time for her to go. So she sets off from her home. Now, the journey from the room that Francesca rents with her partner to this maternity centre has a few twists and turns. First, she'll head south. The road she lives on is a dirt one that's usually lined by sugarcane on either side. Francesca happens to live in an area that benefited from Second Mile, Haiti's most recent solar street lamp installation. Now, if you're brand new here, this is going to be news to you. But since 2021, we've been installing solar powered street lamps in the rural communities outside our centres. We've installed more than 300 panels in eight different communities, and they're all connected, meaning that someone who needs to get from one village to another, maybe from their home to the maternity center to give birth, for example. They can do that with the peace and security that light provides. Now, before we had solar streetlamps lining the roads in these rural communities, people wouldn't really leave their homes at night even if it was an emergency, even if they had a small child that needed to get to the hospital, even if they went into labor. Before we built our Cap-Haitien maternity center, 75 out of 100 women were giving birth in their homes without any backup from a health care provider, like a nurse or a midwife or a doctor. Now, home bars are beautiful, and women should be able to give birth wherever they desire. But when you combine that with a lack of affordable transportation options, the distances of hospitals and health care centers, and even the darkness and fear that a lot of people have for leaving their homes in the middle of the night. This whole recipe is part of what contributes to Haiti's high maternal mortality rate. And unfortunately, women that were experiencing complications in birth didn't have anybody who could help. Let's get back to Francesca's journey. So she's walking on the road that now, because of those newly installed solar street lamps, is now totally lit up by light in the evenings. However, right now it's about 4:00 in the afternoon, so she leaves her house and she passes some of her neighbors and keeps walking until she reaches what I'm going to call the main road. This is National Route number three. It's a fairly busy place. It's one of Haiti's main highways, and if you follow it all the way north, you're going to arrive in the city of Cap-Haitien. If you've been to Cap-Haitien, you've been on this road. Whether you drove here from the Dominican Republic. Came in via the Cap-Haitien airport. Made a trip to the citadel. You would have been driving on this road. Francesco would have walked north on National Route number three for about ten minutes, until cutting in again at another smaller tributary. The road she would have turned on didn't exist a few years ago. Actually, in 2021, second mile Haiti planned and paid for the construction of this road so that people in our area could get to the main road more easily. It's a gravel road, but it's solid and reliable, and its existence cuts our emergency transportation time, which is the time it takes to get by car from our maternity center to our referral hospital in half. That means that if you find yourself in a tough spot while you're giving birth at our center, and we think you need either a C-section or that you may be giving birth to a baby who needs extra care after birth, we can get you to a hospital with an operating room in about 15 minutes. Sometime between when Francesca turned onto the main paved road and what she would have turned down the gravel road that leads to our center, someone spots her and asks her where she's going. This gentleman was a motor driver by trade, meaning that he takes people to and from wherever they need to go for a fee. But when he saw Francesca, he realized that she needed some help. When she told him where she was headed, he offered to take her the rest of the way to the maternity center for no cost. At 5 p.m., Francesca arrives at our maternity center thanks to that good Samaritan who saw her need. But once she gets here, she's met with. I'll go ahead and say it. Some bad news. Now everything's okay with her, and nothing is going on with the baby. But yeah, it's still not great news. Initially, when the midwives welcomed a laboring Francesca into the center, they looked at her chart and realized that two things were true. The first was that she hadn't had an ultrasound because she started care with us so late in her pregnancy. Our team only has the training to determine how far along you are if you come super early in your pregnancy. Sometime during the first trimester, ultrasounds outside of our center can cost between $15 and 50, but that's too much for some. Without an ultrasound, our best guess for how far along she was was between 34 and 35 weeks. Now, because we're a birth center because we don't have an operating room. We have certain policies that we've put in place where we're trying to balance the realities of health care availability in our area, in Haiti, with the safety of the birthing people and their newborns and the midwives on our team. It's a tough thing to balance. Now we're a low risk center, but we do take care of some higher risk clients until they need a higher level of care. So our standard policy is that we refer people to the hospital if they haven't yet hit that 37 week mark in their pregnancy, or if we can't reliably tell whether or not they've reached the term turning point. Normally, if there's enough time, getting to the hospital of their choice is the responsibility of the client and the family. We're essentially the bearer of bad news having to say, actually, because there's a chance you're giving birth to a premature infant, it's better for you to give birth in a hospital that's set up to provide specialized care for newborn babies. Now, I will say a caveat that, unfortunately, finding a hospital that is able to care for premature infants today in 2024 has become harder and harder. Many skilled pediatricians and specialists have left Haiti because of the growing security risks in Haiti in recent years. It's not uncommon for healthcare providers in Haiti to become burnt out by the lack of resources and to look for a safer, better situation for their families abroad. Imagine having the skills and the knowledge to take care of patients who need your help to survive, but not being able to deliver that care because of a lack of medication or other supplies, and having to watch children die as a result. It's also really hard to keep the equipment that's needed for something like a NICU in good enough condition for it to actually do the job it was created to do. That's a topic for another day, but our policy remains. We told Francesca this news and she was definitely concerned. Remember that she's by herself, right now. The person who brought her to the center was a total stranger to her. Francesca is completely alone, apart from our staff, who's doing everything they can to support her and make her feel as comfortable as they can for these conversations. She's still having a ton of contractions. And by now we've learned that she's seven centimeters dilated. Y'all, that means a baby could be born any minute. Normally in this situation, we might use our emergency transfer vehicle, which is a super classy 2005 navy blue forerunner with absolutely no bells and whistles. And we would have done that for Francesca. But there was another issue. We really only use our transportation vehicle to take clients to the hospital that is closest to us, a hospital where we know we're not going to get into any major traffic jams, and we can get people to and from the hospital quickly and get that transfer vehicle back to our center in case it's needed for another emergency. Only on rare circumstances do we go the opposite direction and take our transfer vehicle into the city of Cap-Haitien, where literally anything could happen. So Francesca had asked us not to send her to the hospital we typically take our clients to because she had no family in that area and no one who would be able to get their. But even if she had agreed to be taken to this particular hospital, they have a super strict and very understandable policy that we can't bring anyone to them who doesn't have a support person with them. This is because in birth, and especially when we're dealing with complications, anything can happen. And if a woman were to go unconscious or have a really severe complication, they need to be able to talk to a family member to make decisions about her care. So that option was out. Now we're left with plan B, and we're pretty good at making Plan B's. And fortunately, we have a lot of practice getting to plan B and C and D and E, but our plan for Francesca was twofold. First, we talked to Francesca about who might be able to come to support her immediately and once she'd given birth, her answer. My mom, Francesca, didn't have a cell phone, but she had her mom's number memorized. I know it's impressive, right? How many phone numbers can you recite? If you said one, that's more than me. Just kidding. I should actually say, since my parents are listening, that I do note both of their numbers by heart. And I can still say the number of the landline at my job at home. So I suppose I'm kind of impressive too. Anyway, now it's time to turn our attention to an imminent birth. As I mentioned previously, this baby is potentially coming very, very soon. So the team led by a midwife named midnight and a second midwife, Miss Claud, got right to work preparing for the birth and getting all the extra tools they would want to have on hand in case the baby needed some extra help breathing once it was born. They also got everything ready for that potential transfer immediately after the birth. Preparations included writing a referral letter outlining Francesca's prenatal care with places to fill in details about the baby and the birth, so that handing off care would be as seamless as possible if we did need to transfer the newborn to the hospital. Here's what was happening in minutes. Own words. Okay, we were telling her to breathe, and we were telling her that she was going to be okay and that we were here for her. Meanwhile, we have our whole operations team working on what I'm going to call Project Find Grandma. Minute remembers passing off the phone to our operations director, ARod, her husband, and telling him that he needed to figure out getting in touch with her mom because she needed to be with Francesca. We called the number that Francesca gave us for her mom, and her mom answered right away, but the first words out of her mouth were, I don't have money. I can't get there. I can't pay for transportation to get to my daughter even though she needs me, even though I want to be there. It was a simple question of not having the resources and physically being unable to get from one place to another. We asked her to tell us her exact location, and when we heard where she was at the time, we realized that it would take us more than 25 minutes to get to her, even by motorcycle, which is faster than car because of the bumpy rural roads, we'd have to pass and route to the city. We knew that if we sent someone from our center all the way to where Francesca's mom was located, not only would she not make it back in time for Francesca's birth, it would also put us in a less than ideal situation. We would be down an emergency driver, and without knowing what kind of support Francesca's baby was going to need or what complications she might face in the last stage of her birth, we needed to have all hands on deck. So instead we took note of where she said she was located and instantly knew that we could call candy. Candy has been a part of the Second Mile team since 2018. He works at the Compassion Maternity Center, and he's one of the people responsible for checking clients in in the mornings. He's also an emergency driver. In the past, he's even worked as security. So Candy is accustomed to wearing multiple hats. Can he answers his phone immediately and we could hear from the background music that Candy was in church. Later, we teased him about answering his phone inside a church service. But he didn't totally understand why we were teasing him. Because to him, if he sees his workplace calling him, he's going to answer his phone. Then the easiest decisions would be physically to deepen the human memory but reconnect. Now, whether or not that's a healthy work life balance in this situation, we were super happy that we got Ahold of Kendi and that he was more than willing to help. It turns out Kennedy was inside the church building that Francesca's mom had given us as a landmark for where she was located. So he steps outside the church, gets on his personal motorcycle that he uses to drive to and from work, and apparently also church, and connects immediately with Francesca's mom. I wondered if Kennedy and Francesca's mom had any kind of communication exchanges that stood out to Kennedy when Mama Francesca, not Valentina. We know they communicate. He said. They did. And and this is what he remembers. And the first thing she said to me was that she didn't have any money. And I told her she didn't have to worry. Look, I don't. I work for the organization where your daughter is right now, and we're going to get you there. You don't have to pay. So with her fears laid to rest, Francesca's mom hopped on to Kennedy's motorcycle, and they start their 25 minute drive to our center. Okay. How are you feeling right now? Where are you at? And are you ready to hear what happens? Does Francesca's mom make it in time for her birth? Is Francesca okay? It's going to happen with her baby. I'll tell you in just a minute. But first, let's take a little breathing break. I know this story has already been a lot, and it's not over yet. So if you're walking right now or running or driving wherever you are listening to this, let's take some time to inhale and exhale. That's it. Big inhale. Nice. Slow exhale. Excellent. All right. Before we find out what happens next in Francesco's story, can we just talk for a minute about how beautifully and cohesively the team at Second Mile Haiti responded to this situation to be supportive and Francesca, and to literally go the second mile so that she would have a family member with her during these vulnerable moments around birth, and to make sure that she wasn't alone, to make sure that she and her baby had a good outcome. They are amazing and I'd like for you to meet them. Thank you. I miss you. I wanted the team to describe the various ways we, as a team, try to stay ready for all the situations that we could encounter and do encounter while operating a prisoner. For example, having a vehicle that is functioning fully, service fueled up and up and clean is a huge priority. But I had trouble picking who and where to direct my next question because five of the seven people sitting at this table can drive the vehicle when needed. There's arrow, the operations manager. We have Kendi, whom we called on his day off while he was in church. Well, we have Joseph, the facilities manager in the situation. They both drive the emergency vehicle when needed. And Jen and I also drive when things are tight in. These other people aren't available. All that to say, it's not a coincidence that a majority of the people sitting at this table can drive. And that's not because driving is particularly common in Haiti. Very few people have learned to drive a vehicle, and even fewer people own their own car. But because we operate our center, and because of the need to be able to have people available to drive to the hospital in a variety of emergency situations, we've actually sent 5 or 6 staff members to driving school. And we plan the schedule so that one of those drivers is always on campus, onsite, ready to go. I imagined. Cynthia. Cynthia. Aside from this is my niece. You met her earlier. She's a nurse and a midwife for nurses. And she's worked at Second Mile Haiti since 2018. She does not do this for the money. Although being a nurse or a midwife is a very solid way in Haiti, to be able to find a full time job and take home a monthly salary. Instead, she does it for the satisfaction she's able to bring to clients. And I get that more than most. Not everybody knows this, but I went to school for nursing. And nursing is the path that brought me to where I am today. It's how I first became involved with taking care of children with severe acute malnutrition in Haiti. And it's part of why I'm so passionate about ensuring that the clients at our center get all of their needs met. I was working as a nurse when I met Jen, and we realized that we both had this shared passion for equipping parents with tools so that they didn't have to turn to orphanages because of a lack of resources. But it's more than just being a medical provider for me and for Kendi and for all of us sitting at this table. It's about getting the chance to support someone and be a resource for someone, especially when they can't see where else that support is going to come from. Like Francesca, we're able to surprise so many people in the best way. Healthcare professionals in Haiti are stressed beyond measure. They're overworked, hospitals are overfilled, and people with big hearts that have gone into these roles have had to close off a part of their heart, because it's so hard to deal with the sad realities and the impossible life and death situations that they face every day. And so it's not every day that someone navigating the health care system in Haiti is met with compassion. It's not every day that health care providers have the ability to go above and beyond to help people in their time of need. At Zuckerman Haiti. Because of our supporters, because of all of you listening, we've been able to create a space where we can help, and we aren't too tired, and we can go the second mile and we can attune to the individual needs of each client. We can drive you in our emergency vehicle, all five of the seven of us sitting at this table, and we can even pick you up on our day off. It's why Francesca called this center bazaar. Sadly, for women in Haiti, this experience is just not that common. But we believe we can make it the norm, especially with so many of us having similar beliefs about these issues. Like you, we believe that we all deserve compassionate, respectful, quality health care when we're sick, when we're pregnant, or for any reason that would cause us to seek out a healthcare service from a health care provider. So that's what we want you to know. We want you to know that when you support Second Mile Haiti, your support is backing this group of people. These people sitting at this table who are ready and willing and energized and creative and able to make a difference in the lives of people who aren't getting this support anywhere else. So now that you've met some of the team, let's get back to Francesca's story. All right. Back at the maternity center, Francesca is getting closer and closer to meeting her baby. She's pushing now, and we're about to meet this baby whether we're ready or not. And actually, we're pretty ready. The transfer vehicle is sitting right outside the bathroom, just in case we need to rush a tiny baby to the hospital. Francesca's mom is enroute to the center and meet a very dedicated midwife who was supposed to finish her shift 30 minutes ago. Has decided to stay by Francesca's side, and it's coaching her through these final moments. Jen was there as an extra set of hands, but really, it's her brain we all depend on in big moments. Jen always knows what to do, and she likes to be around for any kind of birth that may require some extra logistics or extra support based on what's going on in the moment. Plus, birthing people love Jen. It's very common for her to get pulled into a supporting role, especially when everyone else is tired and Jen can come in and be that confident, assuring voice. Jen remembers that Francesca is mid push and that baby is so close to seeing the light of day. When she hears the gate to the maternity center roll open and the sounds of a motorcycle rolling in across the gravel threshold. Who else could it be but Francesca's mom? By the time Francesca's mom takes those 20 or so paces from the gate to the birthing rooms. She arrives just in time to hear this. But everybody else is inside that room with Francesca. There's nobody to greet her so she doesn't know that baby crying is actually Francesca's. And that's her granddaughter announcing herself to the world. But since she heard the gay and she knows what that probably means, Jen pops out of the room to welcome Francesca's mom and let her know that her granddaughter has arrived. So when she hears the news from Jen, she drops to her knees and gives thanks for such an amazing outcome. Oh yes. Absolutely. Because guess what? That baby was not premature. It turns out Francesca was probably measuring on the smaller side for other reasons related to her own nutrition and not having gained a lot of weight in pregnancy. But the baby was healthy. Tipping the scale at a solid 3.1kg or about £7. Later, I check back in with Jenn because I wanted to know how she felt now that we had taken time to reflect on this particular story. Yeah, I mean, I feel extremely proud. Um, mainly because women like Francesca, if she at would have another. delivered Mainly at she just feels really grateful that second Mile Haiti is a place where Haitian health professionals don't have to worry about a lack of supplies being the reason why they can't exercise their duty and make use of their knowledge and skill to help people in need. She's grateful that second, Haiti is a place where we can all go the second mile because we're not alone in this endeavor. Then I surprised Jen with a really tough question. Y'all can thank me later because I know we've all been wondering, but I finally asked and she answered. What is the secret to making it all work? What is a really easy one? Since what is the secret to making it all work? Well, I think it's surrounding yourself by good people, passionate people, and I. Not only do we see that in our staff, um, we have amazing group of people. So, according to Jen, the secret is to always surround yourself with passionate people. It's also trying to figure out how do you keep these passionate people going. And that's rest. And figuring out, figuring out ways for people to rest and to be recharged, um, so that we can be in it for the long haul so that we can continue to go the second mile and to make sure those people get the rest, they need to maintain their passion and continue to stay in the ring. Yeah, it sounds like what you're saying is to have a deep bench in a sense, like, yeah, you can be passionate and you can have your five people on the court. We've been watching a lot of basketball recently. Obviously you can have your five people on the court, but you need those fans. You need, um, you need the coaches. You need the players that are maintenance staff, the maintenance staff. Um, but did you all hear my basketball analogy? I bet you didn't know I had that in me. Anyway, I think that's where we end. I think it's pretty clear that we can't do this without you, that it takes all of us. And whether we're doing it for one person or 1000, it's worth it. Every person matters. Every small act of kindness makes a difference. So go out there, do your thing the rest of today, and know that we're so grateful to have you be a part of this community. You can find out more about Second Mile Haiti at our website. Second Mile Haiti. Org and that's spelled out S, E, c o and smiley h a I t.org or on Instagram. And at both of those places you can find a link to sign up for our newsletters. So thanks again listeners. Thanks again. Five years. We love you all and we'll see you later. S e c o n d m I l e h I t I.