Every May or June we visit the practicing matrones (Traditional Birth Attendants) to see how they are doing and distribute the supplies they need to get through the rainy season otherwise known as the malaria season. This is our biggest problem and the only cause of maternal mortality in the last five years. We distribute […]
Traditional birth attendant training
Fall mission 2025
We have not been able to visit our hardworking matrones since 2023, but the local team keeps the project going. I was able to have a FaceTime call with them in November. We all were crying. I miss them. The reports from 61 matrones revealed only one maternal mortality in 612 deliveries.
Delivering Hope in the Sahara–Ojai Quarterly Article Fall 2025
Dr Bob Skankey commissioned me to create a series of paintings of our experiences in Niger. This was in December of 2024. I finished them and shipped them off in January. In March. Dr. Bob passed away. He has left a hole in my heart and the planet.
Midterm mission to resupply the traditional birth attendants
Every year we visit our matrones (traditional birth attendants) twice. In summer it is to resupply them with meds and mosquito nets for the rainy season when malaria is rampant. In fall it is to collect their annual reports and re-inforce their training. Because of the dangerous political situation we have not been […]
Mosquito nets for the matrones
Every year we check in with the matrones just before the rainy season which usually starts in June. The rainy season is also the season when malaria hits so we want our practicing matrones to be able to protect their pregnant patients. We distribute mosquito nets and fansidar (a medicine used to prevent and to […]
Rabi is now a midwife
Rabi was our clinic director at Tamesna when she asked if we would help her get her certification as a midwife, a program of three years. During that time she had a second baby, and completed two missions a year for the Nomad Foundation to train new matrones and resupply the existing ones. She had […]
Training new trainers
We continue to build the capacity of the local staff to expand our traditional birth attendant program whether we can go to Niger or not. We did not go in 2023 because we were saving our money to drill a new borehole at Tamesna, but a coup in July put everything on hold and we […]
New matrone training completed at Ingall
Our most recent training of 8 new traditional birth attendants was completed at Ingal March. Rabi far left is our local nurse who conducted the training and Sidi, center arranged logistics and purchased the their supplies and medical bags. On our last mission we brought a mamabirthie pelvic mannequin donated by Laerdal thanks to our […]
Tamasheq Medical training films now available to all
Thanks to the hard work of John Massey, Mariama Moussa, and your Nomad Foundation crew, Global Health Media has posted four new videos in Tamasheq on their website. Films are a great educational tool for everyone but especially for non-literate learners. We have used them on every mission since 2016 but have been hindered by […]
My first trip to Niger by Dr. Jennifer Stevens
Since I was a teenager I dreamed of working in Africa. In 2019 I had an opportunity to speak at a conference in Namibia, but I still longed to do more. When my friends Pat and Becky invited me to work with Nomad Foundation, I was very excited. I have been doing global work in […]
How are we doing? by Dr. Jones and Dr. Stevens
Dr. Rebecca Jones preface: It has been ten years since a wave of maternal mortalities among families associated with the Nomad Foundation inspired the initiation of our traditional birth attendant training program. The goal all along has been to provide basic education and supplies that could reduce the number of young women losing their lives […]
Pat Manzon’s take on Niger mission 2022
This was a special year for all of us heading to Niger for the first time in 3 years. The pandemic managed to keep us at home all that time. In the end, there continued to be training progress despite our absence. We were excited to see what that progress looked like so we could […]
What We’ve Got Here is Success in Communication–by Dr. Becky Jones
Education relies on communication. When working with non-literate people whose native language differs from the teacher’s, quality communication is challenging. In our matrone training project, we have two groups of trainees who speak two entirely different languages – Wodaabe who speak Fulfulde and Tuareg who speak Tamasheq. In school, Nigerien children learn French from a […]
Friendships
One of the most important reasons for gathering all our trainees together is for them to form friendships and share their experiences. It is a wonderful way to learn and was gratifying to see the old friendships renewed and new ones forming. Mariama and Azarra are both Wodaabe women who live very far apart. They […]
Back to work–Tamesna training 2022
Seeing our team in Niger was pretty wonderful after three long years. Rabi, who we are putting through midwife school, takes time off from that to continue running our programs at Tamesna. Our plan was to have our local staff do the training under the supervision of Dr. Becky, Pat and Jennifer. So the first […]
Honoring Randy Strong
Since we met in 2005, Randy Strong has been a dedicated supporter of the Nomad Foundation’s work. Past president of the Rotary Club of Westlake Village Sunrise, he has spearheaded a partnership with the Rotary Club of Ojai on dozens of grants benefitting the nomadic population of Niger. His focus since we developed the program […]
Returning to Niger after three years–Mission 2022
Despite pandemic and security concerns preventing us from traveling to Niger since November of 2019, our work training traditional birth attendants continues. Prior to the pandemic, we had prepared several women to become trainers themselves, and they have been able to begin conducting training sessions – a bit sooner than we had anticipated! This training […]
Tamesna training 2022
In June, through the generosity of John Massey, we expanded our reach among the nomadic women to six new trainees at Tamesna. We included two of the previously trained who could help out. Rabi, formerly our nurse at the Tamesna clinic and now the director of our traditional birth attendant program conducted the training. She is […]
Iferouane training 2022
In February we conducted a training of seven new traditional birth attendants in Iferouane. This was accomplished through the generosity of John Massey by local staff. If you would like to support this effort click here.
