In memory of the services rendered to midwives in Liberia, a memorial charity organization named and styled “The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust” or “HLMT” established in 2019 to remember the numerous contributions made by a professional British midwife Miss Helen Loewenstein who died in 2018.
The memorial trust is intended to raise funds through grants to enable skilful but poor Liberian students study midwifery and to ensure that the best students become qualified midwives to serve their nation and save the lives of mothers and babies.
The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust makes grants to cover course-fees and essential study expenses for student midwives in Liberia who would not otherwise have sufficient funds to train to become qualified midwives.
At the end of a 16-day visit to Liberia recently, the parents of the honoree (Helen) disclosed that they came to Liberia on a private visit because their daughter worked here at which time she coordinated in-service midwifery training for 400 midwives and birth attendants along with Abdul-Rahman Bah.
Peter Loewenstein, Chairperson of the trust, narrated that since the death of their daughter, they decided to set a legacy or memory, a small charity organization to provide grants for midwifery students who are academically good but unable to train to become midwives because of lack of funds.
“We raise the money from supporters, donations or organized events and all the money raised goes to the trust fund,” he said.
According to Mr. Loewenstein, in 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Esther Bacon School of Nursing and Midwifery in Zorzor, Lofa County for the enrolment of grants students which started with two students. Now six students receive HLMT grants and the hope is to have more students in years to come.
He revealed that five midwifery schools are accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Liberia and that based on the programs offered and its organizational structure and having met all of HLMT’s criteria, the Esther Bacon School of Nursing and Midwifery was chosen to kick start the program.
The mother of the honoree, Stella Nickolay added that it was an emotional atmosphere when they visited the Redemption Hospital and Sonewein Clinic where their daughter helped to train midwives.
“We met with a member of the parliament who was a midwife and was once trained by Helen, we want to work alongside her and other agencies to help women and babies and improve midwifery in Liberia,” she said.
At the meeting, Representative Finda Lansanah expressed her delight in meeting with her trainer’s parents and offered to support the work of the Trust.
They also had very positive meetings with officials from the Ministry of Health and bodies concerned with promoting and regulating midwifery services in Liberia and they had the joy of travelling to Zorzor, to meet Esther Bacon and hospital staff and the students who are receiving HLMT bursaries.
They were honored that the students had composed and then sang a welcoming song, presented them with gifts including gowns wove in country cotton cloth.
They were also conferred traditional Lofa names, Kebbeh and Yarkpawolo, which had them very impressed by the work of the college and the hospital.
The training of midwives in the rural areas is very essential because many obstructed labors, pre-eclampsia & eclampsia, obstetric emergencies, sepsis, post-partum hemorrhages are found during childbirth. An increase of qualified midwives in these areas will help minimize the often-fatal impact of these conditions.
Helen’s ambition to work in a developing country led her to look for opportunities and in 2016 she found one. She travelled to Liberia for two weeks to help deliver two in-service training courses for midwives on behalf of a UK-based charity.
She impressed those with whom she worked at the time when she was asked by the charity to return to Liberia later that year to negotiate an extended in-service midwifery training program with the Liberian Ministry of Health with support from Abdul-rahman Bah.
The program was agreed and Helen was asked by the charity to coordinate the year-long program and from October 2016 until September 2017 she took a sabbatical from her work in Nottingham to do this.
During that year about 400 Liberian midwives, birth attendants and ancillary staff attended a series of two-day in-service courses across eight counties.
Helen Loewenstein studied for her midwifery degree at the University of Nottingham, and having a keen interest in developing countries, she decided to undertake her elective placement for her degree in Zambia, which she absolutely loved. Following her graduation, Helen became a midwife at Nottingham City Hospital.
She had a huge heart, a strong and generous spirit and an acute sense of right and wrong, along with an incredible will and determination, which made her a powerful force for humanity.
