Casa de Espera das Maes Gravidas 
Massinga, Mozambique, Africa

    We are a group of Canadian Medical students, dental students and physicians who were fortunate to spend the summer of 2009 living and working in Mozambique in a community called Massinga. We became familiar with many of the challenges facing this community, and became interested in working with the community to tackle one of these challenges, known as the Casa de Espera.

     The Casa de Espera das Maes Gravidas which literally translates to “House for waiting pregnant mothers”, is intended to provide a comfortable place for pregnant women to stay in the weeks leading up to their due date to ensure they are near medical help if and when it is needed.  60% of Mozambique's population live in rural areas, and the town of Massinga serves a huge rural population (the district of Massinga) of approximately 200,000 people. Many of these women must walk for days to reach the hospital, which places both mother and child at risk if they wait until they are in labour before coming to town.   Unfortunately, women in this community are not coming to stay at the Casa de Espera, because the building is no longer an appropriate place for anyone to live.  The goal of the Casa de Espera Project is to raise enough funds to build a new building that will comfortable, safe and welcoming.

     Our motivation is to not only give back to a community that warmly welcomed us into their hearts & homes, but also to give the community the resources to take one step closer to improving the lives of women.  Mozambique's maternal & child mortality rates are some of the highest in the world. UNICEF reports approximately 4500 women die each year due to pregnancy or delivery complications, which is equivalent to roughly 11 women each day.  For every 1000 babies born, 35 die within the first 28 days, and the majority of these are within the first 24 hours.  To put those numbers into perspective, the maternal mortality rate in Canada is roughly 20 deaths per year and the neonatal death rate is 4 deaths for every 1000 live births. 

     This is why we want to build a new Casa de Espera and we hope you will join us in this Project.  Explore our site, make a donation, spread the word to family & friends and check back often as we keep you posted on the project's progress. 

Obrigado!  Thank-you!

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