WAY-FM Morning Host Helps Moms and Babies in Kabul

By Glenni Lorick

Brant Hansen is the morning host for WAY-FM in the Tennessee Valley. Part of Brant’s appeal is his straight-forward honesty about relevant issues. He doesn’t want to simply sit in his easy chair and be a complacent Christian. So in November, Brant got up out of that easy chair and headed to Kabul, Afghanistan where CURE International operates a hospital for women and babies who have nowhere else to turn for care.

Brant arrived in Kabul on November 8. He Twittered his first impression of Kabul: “Kabul is dusty, windy, and pollution-filled. Glad I wore my contacts.” In his blog, Brant’s Brane, he relates the story of a child brought into the hospital:

A little girl, maybe 10, is carried in by her mother to CURE’s hospital here.  She is burned from her chest down.  Her abdomen, the insides of her arms, the insides of her legs.   She is burned in this curious manner, because she hugged a heating stove, as tightly as she could.  She wanted to die.  It was the only way she could figure out of her life of abuse, and her upcoming marriage to another abuser.
 
It gets sadder:  CURE’s doctors knew what she did, because she’s not the first they’ve seen with these burn patterns.  CURE’s hospital here, in the name of Jesus, not only gives women knowledge, it gives them hope, even training them to become doctors.

The infant mortality rate is among the highest on the planet.  What’s more, doctors here tell me: the maternal mortality rate is also at the top.  Moms give birth at home, have no heathcare, no medical advice, and no one with any knowledge helping them.  Their babies so often die, and often, as they get back to work immediately — literally, immediately — after giving birth, so do they.

During Brant’s time in Kabul, he challenged listeners to donate just $65 to CURE International. That gift will provide pre- and post-natal care for a mother as well as a warm blanket for her and her newborn. A gift of $125 will pay the expenses for childbirth as well. Brant had hoped for 500 people to donate. The response was overwhelming: over 1800 have donated so far. The hospital sees over 2000 mothers and babies each year.

So here’s a challenge to Valley Babies readers: Let’s provide for the 200 women who still need compassionate care and a blanket. Go to http://www.helpcurenow.org/brant to offer your help!