Missions and Ministry
Anguganak Healthy Motherhood Project
By Deb Butters
Let me tell you about Anguganak Healthy Motherhood Project and how it is such a good fit with Days for Girls in Papua New Guinea.
I will tell you the story of Mary. She is like most Papua New Guinea mothers and lives in a remote village. Her home is a simple Bush House. She has no electricity, no reliable water, and if she's lucky, she has one sheet of corrugated iron on her thatched roof to help her collect water. Otherwise she will need to go to the river for water. A dropped toilet will be shared by several families in the village. Mary will walk to her vegetable garden each day, as it is the family's main source of food, and her family have limited access to earn money. Mary's lifespan is likely to be only 60.
The women of PNG are gentle and humble; you would almost say shy. They work hard, are dedicated mothers and carry their babies everywhere they go.
Childbirth in PNG is dangerous. In fact four women die every day from pregnancy related illnesses. Each year 5000 babies in PNG will die before they reach 1 month of age. Many of these deaths would be preventable with better pregnancy care and supervised deliveries. Babies die from infection after dirty items are used to cut the umbilical cord or they die because no one knew how to help them take their first breath if they were born not breathing.
Mothers die because they are weak from malaria, are anaemic and they haven’t received care in pregnancy, meaning, if they haemorrhage after childbirth, they have no reserves. The Anguganak Healthy Motherhood Project addresses these preventable causes.
Our team of midwives will be visiting for the 10th time when we go in May 2026. Training workshops for Village Birth Attendants (VBAs), mothers and Health Workers is our core business. We provide clean birth kits, resuscitation masks and other useful resources. We encourage women to give birth at Anguganak where they will be cared for by trained staff. We provide a gift bag for mothers and babies to encourage women to travel to Anguganak for childbirth.
We have now trained over 200 VBAs, and many have attended multiple training sessions as they find it has inspired them and given them purpose as well as lifesaving skills. 40 health workers have attended training, and practised emergency scenarios. A beautiful trust and teamwork has developed between the VBAs and the Health Workers as they now value each other’s roles.
We visit the schools and provide women’s health education and Days for Girls kits which the sustainable washable solution for girls so that periods are never a problem.
We also support other projects that assist Anguganak Health Service to improve their standard of care. A water tank project we assisted with now provides a reliable water supply for the health centre with 8 large tanks under a roofed structure that collect and store water that is then piped down to the healthcare centre. Reliable access to clean water for patients and staff is essential for improving health care.
We were very pleased when the health team at Anguganak decided to build maternity ward. We have assisted by purchasing the hardware for the work as this project will provide a clean safe space for mothers to wait before and after birth. Until now the women have been expected to share an old rundown ward with the general patients. This could even be a man with TB or other infectious diseases. For this reason many women have been reluctant to go to Anguganak to give birth or if they gave birth there, they would walk back home to their Village rather than risk staying in the old ward.
During a village walk in 2016 we were joined by women, teenagers and children and we asked about the unusual little house on stilts. After some giggling and whispering one of the girls was brave enough to tell us that it’s where women are sent during their ‘sick moon’ (their periods) or after giving birth. PNG is a very Christian nation, but their beliefs are often tangled up with old superstitions, fear of curses and long-standing traditions. Many men still believe they will become sick or short of breath if they touch a bleeding woman even just on her arm. So, there has been customs to send the women away from their home during their period or following childbirth. The menstruating girls and women are shunned and isolated from their families. Slowly these old ideas are being debunked through education, better access to hygiene and period products. In the city's most girls and women would now continue at school or work if they have reliable access to period products.
It has been harder for the village women, who cannot access or afford pads and often have to bathe in the river. Days for Girls is a wonderful highly sought after solution.
In 2017, we met five cheeky girls as we were taking Days for Girls kits to show the health workers. These teenage girls had come down from the mountain and skipped school that day to come to see the ‘visitors’. We showed them the kit and they were very interested and keen to be given one. We explained all the kits were going to be given out at school the next day. Well, the next day the same girls were there in full uniform and came for the health talks and to receive their Days for Girls bag.
On our most recent visit to PNG we were providing VBA training. On the very first day one of those attending presented us with a letter from the school girls in her village. They had taken the initiative to write a letter and sign it with all their names. The letter explained that they had trouble with their sick moon and periods and that they didn't have any products to help them and they were putting in their request for those bags. So of course, we gave the VBA kits to take back to the 12 schoolgirls that had taken such wonderful initiative. So, I can assure you Days for Girls are a highly regarded and sought after solution for girls and women in Papua New Guinea.
HBBC Note:
Last December, we raised over $1,000 through our Two Birds Gift Catalogue which included orders for 31 Days for Girls kits and 24 Mum & Bub Gift Bags.
Further financial gifts can be made to support Anguganak Healthy Motherhood through the church mission account.
BSB: 704 913
Account Number: 400041919
Reference: Anguganak
Let me tell you about Anguganak Healthy Motherhood Project and how it is such a good fit with Days for Girls in Papua New Guinea.
I will tell you the story of Mary. She is like most Papua New Guinea mothers and lives in a remote village. Her home is a simple Bush House. She has no electricity, no reliable water, and if she's lucky, she has one sheet of corrugated iron on her thatched roof to help her collect water. Otherwise she will need to go to the river for water. A dropped toilet will be shared by several families in the village. Mary will walk to her vegetable garden each day, as it is the family's main source of food, and her family have limited access to earn money. Mary's lifespan is likely to be only 60.
The women of PNG are gentle and humble; you would almost say shy. They work hard, are dedicated mothers and carry their babies everywhere they go.
Childbirth in PNG is dangerous. In fact four women die every day from pregnancy related illnesses. Each year 5000 babies in PNG will die before they reach 1 month of age. Many of these deaths would be preventable with better pregnancy care and supervised deliveries. Babies die from infection after dirty items are used to cut the umbilical cord or they die because no one knew how to help them take their first breath if they were born not breathing.
Mothers die because they are weak from malaria, are anaemic and they haven’t received care in pregnancy, meaning, if they haemorrhage after childbirth, they have no reserves. The Anguganak Healthy Motherhood Project addresses these preventable causes.
Our team of midwives will be visiting for the 10th time when we go in May 2026. Training workshops for Village Birth Attendants (VBAs), mothers and Health Workers is our core business. We provide clean birth kits, resuscitation masks and other useful resources. We encourage women to give birth at Anguganak where they will be cared for by trained staff. We provide a gift bag for mothers and babies to encourage women to travel to Anguganak for childbirth.
We have now trained over 200 VBAs, and many have attended multiple training sessions as they find it has inspired them and given them purpose as well as lifesaving skills. 40 health workers have attended training, and practised emergency scenarios. A beautiful trust and teamwork has developed between the VBAs and the Health Workers as they now value each other’s roles.
We visit the schools and provide women’s health education and Days for Girls kits which the sustainable washable solution for girls so that periods are never a problem.
We also support other projects that assist Anguganak Health Service to improve their standard of care. A water tank project we assisted with now provides a reliable water supply for the health centre with 8 large tanks under a roofed structure that collect and store water that is then piped down to the healthcare centre. Reliable access to clean water for patients and staff is essential for improving health care.
We were very pleased when the health team at Anguganak decided to build maternity ward. We have assisted by purchasing the hardware for the work as this project will provide a clean safe space for mothers to wait before and after birth. Until now the women have been expected to share an old rundown ward with the general patients. This could even be a man with TB or other infectious diseases. For this reason many women have been reluctant to go to Anguganak to give birth or if they gave birth there, they would walk back home to their Village rather than risk staying in the old ward.
During a village walk in 2016 we were joined by women, teenagers and children and we asked about the unusual little house on stilts. After some giggling and whispering one of the girls was brave enough to tell us that it’s where women are sent during their ‘sick moon’ (their periods) or after giving birth. PNG is a very Christian nation, but their beliefs are often tangled up with old superstitions, fear of curses and long-standing traditions. Many men still believe they will become sick or short of breath if they touch a bleeding woman even just on her arm. So, there has been customs to send the women away from their home during their period or following childbirth. The menstruating girls and women are shunned and isolated from their families. Slowly these old ideas are being debunked through education, better access to hygiene and period products. In the city's most girls and women would now continue at school or work if they have reliable access to period products.
It has been harder for the village women, who cannot access or afford pads and often have to bathe in the river. Days for Girls is a wonderful highly sought after solution.
In 2017, we met five cheeky girls as we were taking Days for Girls kits to show the health workers. These teenage girls had come down from the mountain and skipped school that day to come to see the ‘visitors’. We showed them the kit and they were very interested and keen to be given one. We explained all the kits were going to be given out at school the next day. Well, the next day the same girls were there in full uniform and came for the health talks and to receive their Days for Girls bag.
On our most recent visit to PNG we were providing VBA training. On the very first day one of those attending presented us with a letter from the school girls in her village. They had taken the initiative to write a letter and sign it with all their names. The letter explained that they had trouble with their sick moon and periods and that they didn't have any products to help them and they were putting in their request for those bags. So of course, we gave the VBA kits to take back to the 12 schoolgirls that had taken such wonderful initiative. So, I can assure you Days for Girls are a highly regarded and sought after solution for girls and women in Papua New Guinea.
HBBC Note:
Last December, we raised over $1,000 through our Two Birds Gift Catalogue which included orders for 31 Days for Girls kits and 24 Mum & Bub Gift Bags.
Further financial gifts can be made to support Anguganak Healthy Motherhood through the church mission account.
BSB: 704 913
Account Number: 400041919
Reference: Anguganak
Posted in Missions & Ministry