Our Story - Midwife Vision

Jan and Chase Becker first came to the United Republic of Tanzania in 2014. Chase was a trainee nurse and Jan a Registered Nurse and Registered Clinical Midwife with over 30 years’ experience. They volunteered their time once a year with Work the World (www.worktheworld.com) until 2016 when they started to return several times a year.

They’ve consistently volunteered at Amana Regional Referral Hospital in Ilala District, Dar es Salaam since 2014.

Over the course of their volunteering they brought equipment, resources (such as medicines and other disposable equipment) and offered training to midwives in basic neonatal resuscitation called the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) program.

The HBB program was first introduced in Tanzania in 2009 (Msemo n.d.) and HBB Champion ( hands on labour ward teaching) was first introduced by Jan and Chase Becker in 2014.

In November 2017 Jan and Chase Becker made their presence more official and aimed to have a more sustainable presence at Amana Hospital, in Tanzania and within Sub-Saharan Africa for maternal and child health.

They founded the Midwife Vision Global Ltd not-for-profit non-government organization with dual boards in Australia and Tanzania. Midwife Vision Global Ltd is registered with the ACNC and is the only Australian not-for-profit that conducts 100% of its operations overseas – Tanzania.

Midwife Vision Global Ltd and Amana Regional Referral Hospital have since signed a Memorandum of Understanding and built a training academy where they run free continuing professional development courses for maternal and child health – namely the Helping Babies Breathe Champion Hands on in Labour ward training developed from then HBB Core Program.

This was developed due to staff shortages, time constraints limited resources, poor classroom transference of Neonatal resuscitation skills to a busy labour ward with 80-00 babies born a day in high season, additionally unlearning old habits was hard to catch in classroom like deep long suctioning – and the sheer need of training was overwhelming.

A film crew travelled to Tanzania with permission Film permit was granted through the Tanzanian Film Commission shoot the film footage, capturing the Silent lives of the Midwifes , stories of hope, heartache, joy, and shining the light on Sub Sahara Africa.

This documentary film about the mothers, babies and midwives who face the realities of maternal and child mortality and morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa every day.

In the words of Chad, the Film Camera man extraordinaire who directed the footage:

“I had heard so many stories of labour ward from Jan and Chase and it was so lovely to see them put their skills to work. I was impressed by both Jan and Chase’s impeccable clinical skills but it was the love and kindness they show to the mothers that was the real spectacle. I’m so grateful to be involved with Midwife Vision and it really is an honour to be entrusted with telling their story through film. There is still much work to be done with both Midwife Vision and the filming and editing process but I look forward to sharing our hard work with you all in due time. “

It will raise awareness for these issues remaining today in maternal and child health and promote corporate sponsorship to fund initiatives to improve the lives of mothers, babies and midwives.

Finally, Jan is conducting a PhD study on midwives and neonatal resuscitation at Tanzania to further improve the efforts towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and her ethics have been cleared through NIMR (NIMR/HQ/R.8a/Vol.IX/2828). Midwife Vision Global Ltd aligns with the principles of sustainability and the spirit of the Tanzania People and this employs Tanzanian Representatives, Legal Counsel, Accountants, Operations Managers and involves local Businesses to boost local economy. Midwife Vision Global Ltd made a more permanent impression on Tanzania when we opened our office in Dar es Salaam in 2017.

Both Jan and Chase Becker are from Australia but feel so welcomed by the Tanzanian people that Tanzania has become like a second home: a home they want to protect and value by helping.

Mamas na Watoto.

Asante sana Tanzania

Love from Sister Mama Janny and Sister Chasey