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 CAPTAIN GRACE TSE visited locations where The Salvation Army’s midwife training program is helping to save the lives of mothers and infants. |
Captain Grace Tse, Oakland Chinatown corps officer, recently attended the Sixth Chinese Congress on World Evangelization and The Salvation Army Chinese Ministry Conference.
While at the conferences, Tse says “her eyes opened to discovering new things,” and she was “encouraged to do more service.”
The Chinese Congress on World Evangelization was held in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. Here, 2,100 pastors and Church leaders from around the world gathered to attend lectures and group workshops. Tse shared with others the vision of the Army’s ministry and its growth.
Lt. Colonel Ian Southwell, Hong Kong officer commanding, led The Salvation Army Chinese Ministry Conference. Nineteen officers attended, representing different Army locations. They shared current ministries and discussed future projects, including the translation of Salvation Army literature and materials into Chinese.
While in China, Tse accompanied Peter Liu (senior project officer) and Jenny Xia (assistant project officer) from The Salvation Army Kunming Project Office on a four-day evaluation of programs carried out in 2000 in Meigu County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
The China Development Department currently has three main project offices in China:
Hong Kong, Kunming (Yunnan) and Shangyi (Hebei). Since 1993, this department has implemented 63 development projects and 11 disaster relief projects (including one in the Philippines and one in Taiwan).
In rural western China, poverty is significant, and health care is practically unavailable. The poor living environment, poor sanitation, low education and geographical isolation have all contributed to the high mortality in this part of China.
Since late 1999, The Salvation Army has conducted a Maternal and Child Health project in Meigu County. It provides for constructing and equipping a central district hospital, equipping five township hospitals and 33 village clinics, training 288 midwives, and starting district-wide maternal and child health training and HIV/AIDS education.
Last year, 22 women from seven areas participated in the midwife training. They received training for six days in basic birth delivery knowledge and use of birth delivery kits. Each participant received a birth delivery kit and basic HIV knowledge. All participants have handled several cases of birth delivery since their training. County health bureau data shows that since the training both the maternal mortality rate and the infant mortality rate have dropped significantly.
In another project, The Salvation Army has joined with the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital and the Rotary Club to make it possible for children with heart diseases to have surgery in Hong Kong. The Army provides accommodations and escorts from and to China for the sick children and their families, while the Rotary Club covers expenses.
Tse was privileged to observe the evaluation of the birth attendant project, and says she was “inspired by the amazing accomplishments of the Army.” She adds, “I am proud to be part of The Salvation Army.”
