Mariatu’s Hope is a registered Sierra Leone non-profit. The founders of Mariatu's Hope, Robert and Ruth Search, are the former Operation’s and Country Directors of Living Water International-Sierra Leone. Since 2008, they have been living in Sierra Leone providing safe drinking water, sanitation at schools and hygiene training (WaSH), while sharing the love of Christ. Now, with Mariatu's Hope, they will continue working in the area of WaSH, building on where they left off with LWI-SL and also will get to expand into some other areas that have deeply touched their hearts, providing nutritional support to babies whose mothers have died and working towards the reduction of teen pregnancy. Mariatu’s Hope is named after their daughter Mariatu, whose mother died when she was a mere 18 days old. She is a delightful girl. During their time in Sierra Leone, in addition to rehabilitating and constructing wells, they have constructed composting toilets at schools. With the assistance of expert volunteers, they will train the students and communities on how to harvest the fertilizer and use it in their gardens to increase food production, thus lessening the burden of hunger in their communities. The students will document what they have learned and track how their gardens are growing. In the future, the schools can sell the fertilizer and use the proceeds to support their schools. The founders have raised up more than 750 students who are active in school Child Health Clubs who will continue strengthening good hygiene and sanitation practices in their communities. These Child Health Clubs will continue to do the hygiene training in communities where new projects are undertaken. They will also work with the WaSH committees set up at the wells. Clean water without proper sanitation and hygiene is not any safer than the water from the swamp. A holistic approach is necessary. Teen pregnancy and early marriage continue to be a problem in Sierra Leone. 34% of all pregnancies occur among teenage girls. 26% of women age 15-19 have already had a birth. 40% of maternal deaths occur as a result of teenage pregnancy. A 2010 household survey estimate of the adolescent birth rate in Sierra Leone is 122 births per 1000 women age 15-19 per year. Mariatu’s Hope is joining forces with the Government of Sierra Leone and other partners to reduce the number of teen pregnancies and reduce the mortality rate of not only teen mothers but also their babies. They will share with parents the importance of loving their children through the pregnancy rather than driving them from their homes and will encourage them to help their child get proper prenatal care and deliver their babies in a hospital rather than in the bush. In 2014, Mariatu’s Hope will pilot one teenage pregnancy peer support group at one secondary school in Lungi. Here, those who have been affected by teen pregnancy, either being a teen mom or being a sibling of a teen who has died because of teen pregnancy, will have the opportunity to share their experiences with each other and promote behavioral change among their peers. Mariatu’s Hope will work with female and male, youth and adult community volunteers who are passionate about this topic to bring hope and healing to those who have been affected. When Mariatu’s mother died when she was 18 days old, her family struggled to buy baby formula. They could only do it for the first two months of her life with the assistance of two extended family members and then the money ran out. The only other option would be to give Mariatu hot water. Mariatu could have been a statistic, but instead God has used her life to offer hope to others. (Jeremiah 29:11) Mariatu’s Hope has an Infant Nutrition program for babies whose mothers have died. This baby formula is provided free of charge to the caregivers. The babies are weighed and examined weekly and referred to the Government Hospital for further evaluation if necessary. Through this program, caregivers and mothers who are too ill to breastfeed hear and tangibly feel the love of Jesus Christ. It is our prayer that we can reduce the number of babies who die because their family cannot afford the baby formula after the mother dies. The founders will work directly with communities on every aspect of this new ministry so communities take ownership of their wells, their health and their communities. The ground work has already been laid and the country is ripe for the next steps of this kind of development. Won’t you join us in this endeavor? Love and Hope always win! Watch for details of our website which is being developed.
