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[Aimee] So when I was living in Uganda,
I became aware of the fact that almost 16 women die every single day
from complications due to their pregnancy or childbirth.
And this really affected me.
And so I thought that I needed to come back
and learn how to be a nurse
so that I could have an impact on the maternal
and infant care in Uganda.
So I'm currently in the second year Bachelor of Nursing program.
My goal is to learn to become a registered nurse
so that I can go back and work in infant and maternal care.
This Christmas holiday, we are going on a trip to Uganda
to volunteer in maternity and pregnancy crisis homes.
[Laura] On this trip, we will be visiting, um,
Kampala and Jinja in Uganda, Africa.
Um, we'll be visiting diff- three different ministries,
specifically, that, um, work with teenage mothers
and are already effectively meeting that need in Uganda.
Uh, we'll also be visiting, um, local hospitals
and bringing donations to the moms that are in the maternity ward,
um, talking to the nurses and the moms there,
and finding out the greatest needs for support
and how we can effectively, when we come back,
um, develop our vision
but also effectively meet the needs when we return
and be- and actually positively make an impact
and come alongside the people that are already doing that.
Um, I saw the need for a ministry to reach teenage moms
through working at the babies' home there,
um, with the same ministry Aimee worked at.
And, um, I met a couple moms
that did come into the ministry with their children as pre- preemies.
Um, and through talking with them and building a relationship with them,
I saw how much they wanted to keep their child,
but they just didn't have the resources to do so.
And so that kinda started the seed in my heart
to pursue a ministry like this.
Um, and so me and Aimee kinda came together.
And she has the maternal health aspect of going into nursing,
and I've – more working in, like, home care
and home-like setting with adults with disabilities,
and volunteering at the babies' home gave us experience, um, to do so.
And we just kind of came together, and we had the same vision,
and we just didn't realize it until we started talking about it,
and were, like, we wanna do this together.
Um, we wanna create a home-like setting,
um, for moms that don't have a place to go,
that they've been rejected from their home, from their village,
um, and they just have somewhere safe to go
and receive support that they need,
um, and a place to develop skills,
um... and just create an opportunity for them to be empowered,
and encouraged, and lifted up, and,
and then also be able to move on from that
and be resettled in their village or their families,
and restore those relationships.
Um, but we ultimately just wanna keep mom and baby together.
[Aimee] So we have set a fundraising goal for 5,000 dollars.
Um, this 5,000 dollars will cover flights for both of us,
as well as visas, accommodations, travel.
And any donations that we receive outside of that,
uh, will go towards, uh, buying items for the mothers and their babies
that we hope to leave with them.
Part of our fundraising initiative
is that we have some handmade items for sale.
We have some baby bibs that are super cute,
the fabric is from Uganda,
and they've got some s- uh, soother straps attached.
We also have some coffee mugs with a couple different designs on them.
And we have some bracelets for sale.
And all these items can be found on our website
at AimeeAndLauraInUganda.wordpress.com
Meeting the women and children of Uganda has had a great impact on my life.
It's given me direction and purpose for my life.
It's helped me choose a career path,
and it's given me a goal to work towards.
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