Here is a story from the community of Aguerd, which will benefit from this collaborative effort.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am constantly learning, constantly observing, constantly piecing together the inter-workings of a culture so different from my own. One of the things I noticed long ago was that pregnancy for women, is not the jolly, exciting time it is in the US. No baby showers or name brainstorming sessions. I received confussed looks when I asked pregnant friends of mine questions like 'Do you want a girl or a boy?' or 'Do you have any names picked out?' Recently, I found out why.

In the US, the vast majority of pregnancies end up in healthy, fat babies. Whatever health problems that come up are resolved with expediency by a competent physician. However, this is not the case in rural Morocco. Only the rare, complication free pregnancies have the possibility of ending with fat, healthy babies. Pregnancy remains one of the most dangerous adventures a woman can embark on, and a fat, healthy baby is a long way short of guaranteed. I sat next to a good friend of mine recently, the day after she had lost her baby, and watched the tears glisten in the corner of her eyes as her husband repeated for the hundredth time, 'What can you do, it is what it is.' This project is a long way from curing all the ills of the Moroccan health care system, but it is something we can do; and it will help women like my friend, to complete long, healthy and successful pregnancies.

It is estimated that every married woman living in Aguerd has had at least one miscarriage. With access to an ultrasound machine and quality pre-natal care, the women of Aguerd could be fortunate enough to have long and healthy pregnancies.