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Message Tiny MiraclesJoseph’s StoryAs told to Dr. Melody Curtiss, esq.and NatalieTurner, by Yasmine Vaughan, MPH1

This book belongs to:2

This book is part of the “Child’s View” seriesfrom Helping Children Worldwide OptimisticVoices, a podcast that features the voices ofpeople tackling the root causes of child povertyand child mortality. Child’s View stories are based on real people andreal events. Somewhere in Africa, a baby likeJoseph is being born with the help of a midwifetrained by Hawa.(c) 2025 Helping Children WorldwideSRP-Take Two StudiosAll rights reserved.3

Hi. Nice to meetyou. I’m Ep!Reading real stories to children, andbeing open to their questions is one wayparents, family, and caring adults helpchildren to learn empathy. Real storieswhere children are in danger cansometimes be scary to children. “Ep” is the Krio word for help. Krio is alanguage spoken in Sierra Leone and inparts of the USA. Ep is a white-throated bee eater, the national bird ofSierra Leone. He is here to help tell thestory, make it less scary and answerquestions.4

Sometimes life is scary and youfeel all alone. But there are helpers.Helpers show up when people are introuble. Look for me in this storyand we’ll look for the helperstogether! This is a “read-along”book. We invite you touse Ep and the questionsat the back of the bookto discuss real issueswith children. There is abit of “grown-up”information as well, youmay choose to share ornot, depending on yourchild’s age andunderstanding.5

This is a story about miracles and helpers. It is mostly Joseph’s story. But our story begins with Hawa. Hawa is one of the helpers in Joseph’s story.Sometimes even helpers need help.6

Hawa worked in a small clinic in a rural village inSierra Leone just off the Bo-Kenema Highway.There are not many paved roads in her country.There are not many cities either. The highway wasthe only way to get from the village to a hospital.7

Hawa was proud of her clinic. Itwas a special place. It was formothers and newborns. Hawa was a midwife. 8

A midwife is a helper. A midwife helpswomen who want to become mothers tohave their babies born easily and safely. 9

But it was not easy to do that jobwhere Hawa worked.10

Babies are born any time day or night.Hawa knew that there should be amidwife at the clinic 24 hours a day, 7days a week to help whenever a babywas coming.Hawa knew there should be 3midwives at the clinic, so they did notbecome too tired to work, but therewere only 2. 11

Hawa’s village was poor.There were not enoughsupplies at the clinic. If amother or a baby was introuble, the clinic could notprovide them everythingthey might need. And thoughthere was a road, therewas no ambulance to getthem from their village tothe hospital in Bo. 12

Even worse, the other midwife forthe clinic had not come to work forthree months. Hawa was the onlymidwife available for all themothers in her village.13

She worked hard to do a good job tocare for the mothers and babies,but sometimes no matter how hardshe worked, it was not enough. Poor Hawa. She is sobusy. She is either helpinga baby be born, or waitingfor a mother to need herhelp. 14

Early one morning a group of peoplecame to visit Hawa’s clinic. They werenurses and midwives. Body15

They came from all over the country. Some came from other countries.16

They explained they were from Together forGlobal Health. Hawa was friendly to hervisitors. She showed them around the clinic,even though it was starting to get busy. 17

Before they left, they asked if they couldcome back and learn more about her clinic. Their maternal health mission seemed likeimportant work. It was the same thing she did.So she said “yes.”18

They invited her to come to a training class formidwives they were doing that week.It sounded like a good class. But Hawa was not certain it was right for her toleave the clinic. She said “maybe.”19

“I don’t know if I can go. Itis better to stay at theclinic if mothers need me.”"What willHawa do?"20

BooooBy lunchtime, Hawa had 10patients. Five mothers wereready to give birth. Thatmeant 5 babies and 5 mothersneeded her help. hoooo!Hawa. Help me!21

It was not unusual for her to havemany patients. She felt prepared for atough day. 22

Then, everything started going wrong.By lunchtime, she was no longer feelingas hopeful and prepared. Two patients were struggling.23

Esther was one of Hawa’s patients. Estherwas only 19 years old. She wanted to be amother but she was frightened. She was in alot of pain, and crying because her labor wastoo long. Hawa couldn’t help her.I feel bad for EstherAND Hawa!24

Hawa had to stop helping Esther to help anothermother named Nancy. Nancy was ready to haveher baby. Hawa helped Nancy’s baby be born. Nancy namedher newborn Joseph. But Joseph was in trouble.He wasn’t breathing. I bet you are worried aboutbaby Joseph. I know thestory is supposed to have ahappy ending. I hope helperscomes soon!25

Nancy was also in trouble.She was bleeding a lot. Hawa did not know how to stop the bleeding.I bet you are even moreworried about baby Josephnow. What will happen tohim if Nancy doesn’t getbetter?26

Hawa was worried. She needs help! Nancy, and Joseph were in badshape. Esther had been in laborfor a long time. She was too tiredto even cry. Hawa was afraid she might loseall three of them. 27

Then something amazing happened.Some of the people who had visitedthe clinic that morning came back. They were midwives from Canada. 28

They jumped in to help Hawa.They knew how to stop Nancy’s bleeding.They had supplies in their car they weregoing to give to the clinic. They used the supplies right away to helpboth Nancy and Esther. 29

They knew how to help Joseph breathe. With their help, he started breathing. He let out a cry and snuffled in themidwife’s arms. 30

Nancy laughed and reached to hold him. She wasalready feeling better. “My miracle” she said softly. “Mine too,” Hawa agreed.The midwives from Canada all smiled. Then theylooked at Esther and the other three motherswho were at Hawa’s clinic. “What else can we doto help?” they asked.31

Hawa knew Esther needed to go to thehospital in Bo, but there was noambulance. They decided there wasanother way the Canadians could help.They called the hospital in Bo. They couldtake Esther with them in their car. Sothey helped Hawa get Esther from herbed in the clinic to the car and droveaway as safely and quickly as theycould.32

Esther’s baby was born before theycould reach the hospital. The driverwas very surprised. But the midwiveshelped her have her baby safely, andthen brought Esther and the baby tothe hospital.33

Hawa was relieved. Her bad day turnedaround. There were no more emergenciesthat she was not able to manage. The next day everyone went to the hospitaland checked on the mothers and their babies.They were all well. Baby Joseph was alreadylaughing and cooing at his mother. Esther wasn’tfrightened any longer.34

She wanted toknow everythingthe midwives fromCanada knew.Hawa knewwhat sheneeded to do.To help moremothers, sheneeded tohave moretraining. 35

I bet Hawa willbe an evenbetter helpernow!Hawa knew sometimes badthings happen. It would notbe too long before she hadanother bad day. She decidedthat the midwives trainingwas important for themothers in her village. Shedecided to go.36

Hawa did so well at thetraining that they asked herto become a trainer to teachother midwives how to do thethings she learned there abouthelping babies breathe, likeJoseph, and helping motherslike Nancy. Hawa became morethan a helper. I was right!37

38She became a champion for maternal health.She is helping other midwives in Sierra Leoneknow how to handle tough cases, so theywon’t be frightened like she was.

Discussing the story with youryoung person.39

Start by asking about feelings. Howdid the story make you feel? Do you know otherhelpers like the onesin this story?Have you ever beena helper?How does helpingmake you feel?Have you ever neededhelp? How did youfeel?40

Do you know whata miracle is?Why do you think Nancyand Hawa said Joseph wasa miracle?What miracles may havehappened to people youknow?Use the story to introduce faith concepts.Keep it simple and concrete and familiar.41

A few facts aboutmaternal & infant healthand successes of thematernal health mission.Together for Global Health trained 150 midwivesand delivery nurses in its first 2 years in 2provinces in Sierra Leone and certified 20 risingmidwife trainers to continue the training everyday with new midwives. They plan to train 50 to100 clinicians each year. Sierra Leone has thehighest infant birthfatality rate in theworld. A woman dies during childbirth1 out of 5,000 births in the US.That number is 1 in 200 womenin Sierra Leone. and most diefrom preventable causes. 42

Do you want to be a helper or amaternal health champion, like Hawa? Goto helpingchildrenworldwide.org or totogether4globalhealth.org and learnmore about how you can join the missionand travel to Sierra Leone, orcontribute financially to support it.A message from Ep for adults.43

https://helpingchildrenworldwide.org501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofitFEIN 76-0729857This book is part of the “Child’s View”series from Helping Children WorldwideOptimistic Voices, a podcast that featuresthe voices of people tackling the rootcauses of child poverty and child mortality.Child’s View stories are based on realpeople and real events. If you would like tolearn more about Joseph’s Story, or listento episodes about the maternal healthmission you can go tohttps://optimisticvoices.buzzsprout.com44