To the editor:

In January, I will be traveling with fellow Clark University students to Bo, Sierra Leone to work with Fresh-Hope in conjunction with The Seven Hills Foundation.

Fresh-Hope is an organization that has done a tremendous job providing care to disadvantaged children, especially to orphans whose mothers have passed away during their birth. The Seven Hills Foundation is an organization that works to advance and sponsor rehabilitative, housing, education, healthcare, social and other services on behalf of persons with physical, developmental, emotional or other life challenges.

Our goal for this trip is to help build an international partnership between Fresh-Hope and Seven Hills, and work toward bettering the lives of the women and children in Sierra Leone. Women in Sierra Leone are dying at an alarming rate during childbirth. According to Amnesty International, the maternal death rate is one in eight and in some rural parts of the country the rate is one in four — the second highest in the world. The Sierra Leone healthcare system faces many challenges, including poor infrastructure, inadequate qualified manpower, poor supply of clean water and more.

We hope to contribute by providing supplies and training midwives on basic hygienic techniques so that they can help deliver more successful births. We will also be tending to the many orphans that are left abandoned at birth.

My mother is a community midwife here on Whidbey Island, and I can see how having resources and support would benefit community midwives in Sierra Leone.

I would like to ask the Whidbey Community for support by donating small amounts toward the $2,000 price that includes flight, food and housing for the 10-day stay in Bo, Sierra Leone. Please visit my Web page at http://www.firstgiving.com/rebeccajaffe to donate to this incredible mission.

Rebecca Jaffee

Greenbank