Mustard Seed Global Health and Wellness Inc. was co-founded by Karinda Messenger and Dr. Annette Wagner about a year ago, and Debbie McMillen is the organization’s secretary. Messenger said the nonprofit was started following a trip to Kenya with the International Sports Academy, where upon their visit the group realized how much something focused on women’s health care was needed there, specifically due to the large number of women and children dying from complications during or after childbirth.

“We want to decrease the amount of mothers and babies dying, and that is through a circle of things,” Messenger said. “Sometimes it is because of teen pregnancy, so we are working to help these girls stay in school. These girls have fees they have to pay to go to school, so we also provide things like sponsors and we will provide seeds to plant corn that they can then use to get money to help them pay that fee and stay in school.”

Mustard Seed will travel to Kenya and provide medical clinics, while also training those there to be midwives and give other medical training to leave them with something sustainable when the nonprofit members return home. They will also supply medical equipment and supplies, having established an account at the local medical supply closet so they do not have to bring the items with them through customs. Messenger said a lot of the mortality rate comes from the lack of medical knowledge and supplies.

The mission of Mustard Seed is “to have a world where childbirth is safe and supported for every newborn and woman.” They have been doing this mission for at least a year now, Messenger said, adding that while they are not missionaries they will also bring along items such as devotionals for the villages as well. One other big item that the nonprofit provides is sanitary pads, as another reason why these girls do not go to school is the lack of ability to get pads, so when they are on their period they do not go.

Some of what Korinda Messenger and her nonprofit organization does is to help educate people in the villages of Kenya and other African countries on women’s health care. Submitted photo

Messenger said they will also partner with other organizations such as Sasa Volleyball Academy. On June 14 Messenger is scheduled to travel to Kenya, and with Sasa Volleyball Academy there will be a two-day volleyball tournament for the girls while Messenger talks with them about menstrual health, and other things such as relationships. She added that Sasa Volleyball takes these girls out of the slums, teaches them to play volleyball, which then gets them scholarships to help them stay in school. During this trip they will also be partnering with Kenid to help provide a medical clinic for them as well.

“As a midwife in the United States I have a passion to take care of women and families,” Messenger said. “Dr. Wagner is an OBGYN. We don’t want to see women and babies die, and it was really a God thing for me because for that first trip I didn’t want to go, but they told me they need help with women’s healthcare over there, and after that trip God just kept opening doors to make things possible.”

In the future, Messenger said the organization plans to continue to support these girls and help them stay in school and get an education. They also want to help make evidence-based healthcare practices more available, and Messenger added that she would like to open a medical clinic in Kenya.

The big focus will continue to remain decreasing the number of mothers and babies dying in childbirth. Messenger gave a specific example of the organization partnering with a Kenyan orphanage, and a two year old boy named Enoch there, who ended up there after his mother died of a postpartum hemorrhage. Additionally, the organization will work to help sponsor places such as the Ilmorba Rescue Center, which works to prevent girls from being forced into female circumcision at around the age of 14, where they are then married off to older men. This sponsorship allows the girls to stay in the rescue center and go to school.

Coming from a small town herself, Messenger said a lot of the struggles in the villages of places like Kenya, people may not fully understand.

Korinda Messenger is pictured with some of the girls and women Mustard Seed is helping in Kenya. Submitted photo

“I graduated from Clymer and when it comes to small town USA people don’t really know that things like this happen,” Messenger said. “These girls have struggles that are different, but are also very similar with similar goals like a healthy and happy relationship and pregnancy. The lack of resources and access to resources is what makes a difference.”

Poverty is what drives these girls to make desperate decisions that Messenger said people in the US might not always understand, giving examples of girls prostituting themselves to be able to have money to buy sanitary pads or mothers having to abandon their babies. This is also why, Messenger said, a big part of what Mustard Seed does is help these girls stay in school.

“We encourage them to go to school and help them stay there and get an education,” Messenger said. “We often tell the girls ‘knowledge is power, and that is something no one can take from you.’ Getting an education helps break them out of the cycle of poverty.”

The nonprofit also has some partnerships locally as well, such as local churches and the Jamestown Zonta club which has donated multiple emergency kits to them in the past. Messenger said people can reach out to her and she is willing to come speak at local churches about what they do as well. For more information on Mustard Seed Global Health and Wellness Inc. or to contact or donate to them, visit www.msghealth.org.