Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page for Brit Insurance Employees.

I will be part of a team of six people who are heading out to Ethiopia this October to go to a small hospital in Gimbie to work for the charity Maternity Worldwide. We are a very mixed bunch: 1 doctor, 2 nurses, a plumber, a civil servant and a marketing manager. We have funded the trip ourselves and are giving our time free. Our hope for the time we are there is to be able to not only physically help in terms of medical care but also raise awareness of the charity.  

In Ethiopia as many as 1 in 7 women currently die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to approx 1 in 8000 in the UK.  Each one of these deaths is a tragedy that has a devastating effect on the family (many young children also die following the death of their mother) and hampers the community's development. Most of these lives could be saved by relatively simple, cheap measures. Maternity Worldwide is working hard to save lives in childbirth. In the time that the charity has been supporting the Gimbie Hospital maternal deaths have fallen by approximately half.  

The projects we will be working on in Gimbie are:

• Community Health by visiting the villages to provide medical services and help to maintain the rural clinics.
• Building a water filtration system for the hospital .
• Installing a washing machine which will be used for hospital linen.
• Analysing data on maternal deaths to try and reduce figures further.
• Distributing medical supplies to the hospital and local community programmes.
• Providing clothes and shoes to local children. The sand in Ethiopia contains high levels of silicon and, as the children rarely have shoes, it leads to an infection that can cause death. With simple shoes - even just flip flops - the condition can be prevented.
• Give every new mother a baby blanket for her newborn - this is often the only comfort or clothing they will have.

We are holding a number of fundraising events to help supply the medication and filtration system, but you can help support the charity too. We really need funds for the medication and supplies we will be taking directly to the hospital and surrounding clinics.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Any help, whatever size, will be very much appreciated 

Any questions please ask Toby Ducker

Thank you very much to everyone at BRIT INSURANCE for their generosity

Dr Camilla Ducker