Jesse Rohde, D.O., M.P.H., Founder/President/CEO, The Rohde Foundation

The Rohde Foundation – Mothers Providing Care – Jesse Rohde 

This is a story about the “women” of rural Ghana…the motivation of The Rohde Foundation…and those who live at the center of our success…

Around this time last year the task of laying the groundwork for Mothers Providing Care (MPC) began…an innovative approach for putting rural women at the center of a model to reduce maternal and child mortality…the idea was conceptualized while in Boston studying at Harvard…a “village at the center” approach…mothers…the most trusted soldiers…providing for their neighbors…

and so it began…walk the narrow paths to each of the villages…speak with the chiefs and insure them that ones intention is not “self” based…but rather village based…people based…”community at the center” based…go door-to-door…meet the husband…meet the frightened children…meet the sons…meet the wives and the daughters…explain your intention…receive approval from both the husbands and wives, allowing the wives to take one day a month from the fields in order to attend to those village women who were pregnant…prenatal care delivered by knowing neighbors…knowing mothers…

The door-to-door work has always been my favorite part…a brief introduction to people’s lives…the opportunity to go deeper…more than speaking your intention…but, rather living your intention…hours spent sitting in mud/stick living rooms discussing health care…water…food…possibility…remembering names…watching children grow…celebrating fathers in order to win their approval to place their wives…the communities mothers at the center of this brand new maternal and child health answer…

And so…after miles walked…each village (Oworobong I, Oworobong II, Odumase, Awisasu, Ohemaa, and others) democratically selected those whom they felt should represent their health interests…a simple vote…by the people…with the final approval of the chief…an answer to the question:  Who should be the “mothers” providing care?

While I waited for the newly elected women to arrive…ushered to the Oworobong Clinic by their respective Chiefs to introduce themselves and discuss their thoughts and challenges…I thought to myself, “This is a rural Ghana night…this is a special night”…without electricity…candles were lit to guide people to their seats…and like a pageant of those who believed that they could impact the health future of their villages…the women greeted…removed their sandals…and sat down…they were dressed for an occasion…for some a 6…7…10 mile walk…for others the Clinic lived in their backyard…

When everyone was seated…with the echo of speaking within the empty walls of the Clinic serving as a perpetual reminder of what was said…Kofi (National Director, The Rohde Foundation Ghana) and I began to tell the story of Mothers Providing Care…the impact it could have…the potential it could hold…and more importantly, the fact that neither of us would be central to its success or failure…rather, this was a night in which the mothers would take center stage…a night in which the mothers would be forced to realize that the success or failure…and therefore the health future of their children and their neighbors children…could and would be impacted by their desire to live out these goals and dreams…

As the women spoke…the words felt bricks…heavy…strong…compounding each other…creating a wall of possibility…each village discussing the voting…the challenges they would face…how it would be difficult to remove themselves from market days…from the field work…from food collection…and child care…each village discussing how Mothers Providing Care could be great…but would have to be directed by them…If The Rohde Foundation made all the rules, then they were simply workers…but if they made the rules within the construct of The Rohde Foundation model…then we had “life”…

As the Chiefs spoke…and the women made their walk back to home…there was an unmistakeable sense of optimism…but questions in rural Ghana are never gar behind…Would we be able to demonstrate the impact of this program on the well being of mothers and children?  Would we be able to truly place the power in the hands of rural mothers without dismissing the work of husbands and fathers?  Could we celebrate the work without ostricizing those not at its center…including some Chiefs?  Could we maintain the energy of this night and set in motion a trend towards prenatal security…safe delivery…sound follow-up?

I new it would be possible…women in rural Ghana…when they truly believe in something…it never dies…it lives on the tin rooves…in the trees…baskets…shoes…and doorways of every home…in each village…If they were going to be at the center…then quality health care in rural Ghana would have a home…for good…

With the assistance of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the New York Institute of Technology, The Rohde Foundation will begin training the first group of Mothers Providing Care…their future lays in their hands…with everything we have firmly behind them…It seems the candle of belief…that comprehensive health care belongs in rural Ghana as much as it belongs in urban Brooklyn…never goes out…

Join The Rohde Foundation…spread the message…support the work…as a group of 25 physicians, engineers, medical students, and volunteers head to rural Ghana to work in the Oworobong Clinic and monitor the training of those women who make up the first group of Mothers committed to Providing Care…it is the beginning of something beautiful…it is part of the record that defines us as a group who believe…

We thank you.
Jesse