Family Moves to Tanzania to Aid and Educate Expecting Mothers

When infection, high blood pressure, and harsh daily demands threaten expecting mothers, a doTERRA Wellness Advocate and her family step in to help. Additionally, the doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation™ donated to help further their cause.

After learning about the shortage of birth assistants around the world, doTERRA Wellness Advocate Jamie Dellesky and her family left their lives in the United States so that others could have a chance to live theirs. Approximately a half a million women and two million babies die during child birth each year. Many of these deaths occur from infection, high blood pressure, and additional birthing complications in areas where birth assistants are limited. With these hard facts in mind, Jamie became a certified midwife and moved to Tanzania with her family to save lives and make an impact.

In some impoverished villages in Tanzania, women are regarded with little value and, oftentimes, live their lives doing hard manual labor to provide for their families. Because of their intense daily living conditions, many pregnant women have experienced the loss of a baby and are subjected to infection and birth complications. This is where the Dellesky family steps in.

Knowing “that over 80 percent of the complications that take a mother's or a baby’s life can be prevented,” Jamie, with her husband and three sons, partnered with a local church in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to build an outreach for pregnant mothers and their families; the outreach was eventually named MamaLove. Because of MamaLove’s impact on the people they serve, the doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation made a monetary donation to help further their important cause. Through the MamaLove program, they strive to give one-on-one care to each mother throughout her pregnancy while also providing health education, nutritional support, clean birth kits, and baby survival bags for those in need.¹

The Dellesky family also makes sure that each woman they care for feels loved. They do this through massages that help "bring down blood pressure, soothe skin problems, boost their mood, release pent up emotions, and help with infections."

Additionally, the effects of the Dellesky family’s efforts do not stop there. Women that receive care from MamaLove are taught how to better take care of themselves and their babies. In return, women are excited to share this new knowledge with their friends and are encouraged to come back and serve other women in the program. This cyclical effect helps the impact of MamaLove to reach more women and aids in reducing tragic mortality statistics among women and their babies.

To learn more about MamaLove, the Dellesky family’s mission, or how to donate, visit their websites.

1. "Our Mission"