Lauri Mark, Doula

17/09/2025

Our purpose is to work together to improve the well-being of the people of Taiama and surrounding areas in Sierra Leone through education and health services, focusing on women and children.

17/09/2025

ISO pelvis and baby model. I am going to Sierre Leone in November with 2 midwives to do emergency skills training The Victoria-Taiama Partnership. Our Judy Smith Health Post will be hosting the training workshops for our local midwife and others in the area. We are looking for a donation of a pelvis and baby model to take with us and leave there (preferably with a dark brown baby model). You would be eligible for a tax receipt for the donation.

Our purpose is to work together to improve the well-being of the people of Taiama and surrounding areas in Sierra Leone through education and health services, focusing on women and children.

09/04/2025

Thinking about bedsharing? The Safe Sleep 7 outlines key factors that help reduce major SIDS and suffocation risks when sharing sleep with your baby.

✅ If you are:
1️⃣ A nonsmoking household
2️⃣ Sober and unimpaired
3️⃣ Exclusively breastfeeding day & night

✅ And your baby is:
4️⃣ Healthy and full-term
5️⃣ Sleeping on their back
6️⃣ Lightly dressed (not swaddled)
7️⃣ On a firm, safe surface (no fluffy blankets, pillows, or toys)

…then you have removed all major SIDS and suffocation risks and can safely practice responsive nighttime parenting. 🌙

Check back tomorrow as we discuss Safe Sleep Surfaces!

22/06/2024

Many children in Taiama do not attend school. Education is free, but there are fees for school uniforms, textbooks and activities. While this amounts to about $100 CDN, it is beyond what a family can afford when they earn $1/day. Children can't attend school without a clean, well pressed uniform. So girls are usually the ones in a family who do not go to school. Victoria-Taiama Project supports girls to attend school by providing money for their school fees.

20/06/2024

Water. Filtered so we can drink it, while the people if Taiama drink it straight from the well. There are many wells for private use by individuals. But for the majority of the population public wells are their only source. We saw 2 or 3 wells provided by NGOs from several years ago, and more wealthy towns people have generously built a couple for public use.

18/06/2024

The wealth and poverty in Sierre Leone are extreme. In the Taiama community most people struggle daily to feed all the family. But in the area we stayed there was generosity every day a people shared any available food. Women worked to help each other prepare meals, mind the children and laughter was everywhere.

18/06/2024

I have spent 3 weeks with these special women at Judy Smith Health Centre. The 2 midwives can see a couple pregnant women a day or 'plenty plenty'. I have learned a lot about maternal health in Taiama. Women from Taiama and surrounding villages benefit from the health care and monitoring they receive at Judy Smith Health Centre.

14/06/2024

Today I went with the midwife to a village about 7k away to do a health visit

13/06/2024

I visited the 2 other Taiama health facilities today. It was very interesting seeing the similarities between all 3 maternal health units. The largest has about 10 births a month, the next is 6 and ours, Judy Smith Health Centre is 4. Overall, Judy Smith is well regarded and essential to the community.
Women's health has increased due to the work at Judy Smith and the influence our Canadian supporters have made on how our midwife works in the community.

12/06/2024

Hospital corridors are often crowded with equipment. Bet you wouldn't see this equipment in a Canadian hospital

08/06/2024

Food prep takes the better part of each day. The Boarding House girls helped carry water today. Rice is pounded and sifted by hand to make flour for fried fritters. And on the plate is one of our 3 chickens ...

06/06/2024

Did I mention people keep dropping off pineapples!


-taiamaproject