Mercy In Action’s Experience the Model Learn and Serve
Walk beside us in the Philippines
February 7-14, 2027
Mercy In Action staff invites you to join us in the Philippines for a learn-and-serve adventure to immerse for a week in our proven global model for providing maternal/child health care. You will tour a Mercy In Action Birth Center, join our First 1,000 Days outreach home visiting program, teach facts for life to parents, and teach life-saving skills to local birth providers.
This on-site and hands-on training will focus on international standards and initiatives as well as simple technology to be implemented or scaled up to prevent and treat problems during pregnancy and childbirth in low-resource areas. We will explain how maternity care is impacted by poverty and natural disasters, the role of the midwife in low resource countries, and give invaluable instruction in creating a safe birthing area when health care systems cannot meet the needs of pregnant families living in conditions of deprivation. Life-saving global initiatives will be viewed in action as you accompany the First 1,000 Days mercy kasamas (companions) on home visits and teach life-saving Facts For Life.
Beach Front Hotel
The resort hotel where you will stay is nestled along the shoreline of Subic Bay, Philippines, surrounded by tranquil waters and scenic mountains. Between learning sessions, you'll have the opportunity to enjoy the beach, listen to the gentle rhythm of the waves, breathe in the fresh sea air, and take in the breathtaking coastal views—an ideal setting to relax, recharge, and make the most of your time away.
Unique Continuing Education
Successful completion will certify learners to become Helping Mothers and Babies Survive instructors, earning Master Trainer Status after supervised teaching sessions instructing local midwives, nurses and doctors. In addition, we teach how to adapt best practices in maternity care for low-resource, high-mortality settings. You will become familiar with our integrated First 1,000 Days program and see up close and personal what our Mercy In Action International Childbirth Initiative (ICI) implementing-birth-center model looks like on the ground, while rubbing shoulders with our wonderful national staff of midwives, nurses, community health workers, and doctors who make it happen every day!
Open to all who desire to promote Safe Motherhood and Newborn Survival:
This experience of a lifetime is not just for birth practitioners! We open this experience to everyone from any background who wants to improve outcomes in birth for the poor and underserved. You may be a midwife, nurse, doctor, doula, or non-medical person who cares about the global maternity care crisis. Anyone with a high school diploma is welcome to join us to learn how to promote maternal/newborn health and improve birth outcomes worldwide. The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive certifications earned during this training can be used by anyone to teach medical professionals in any country or birth setting in the future.
Your Instructors and Guides:
Vicki has been living and serving in the islands with her family since 1991, dividing her time between her home in the Philippines and the USA when not teaching in other countries. She is often joined in teaching by her son, Ian, and his wife, Rose Penwell, who have decades of maternal healthcare experience in both the Philippines and the USA as midwives and educators. Matt and Kristen Benoit are fulltime members of our team, a married midwife/nurse couple who have lived in the Philippines on and off at various times and come for at least a month each winter. Kristen runs the Mercy In Action College of Midwifery in the USA. Marlene Domalaon is the head midwife for our newest birth center in Olongapo, and Nerissa Cumpio is the leader of two Mercy In Action-sponsored birth centers we built after a major natural disaster on Leyte and Samar islands. You will meet many more of our wonderful Philippine team of midwives and kasamas (home visitors) and be invited to see first-hand the Mercy In Action “Birth Model That Works*, as we are all happy to share that model with everyone interested in replicating parts of it in their own communities.
*Vicki Penwell was honored to be asked to write a chapter on Mercy In Action featured in Robbie Davis-Floyd’s seminal 2009 book Birth Models That Work. Her Disaster response leadership was also featured in the book Sustainable Birth in Disruptive Times.
PRICES
Learn & Serve Seminar in the Philippines:
COST: $1,995
Price includes hotel lodging, breakfast, lunch, and transportation each day to the venues and outreaches. Dinner will be on your own each night, giving you a chance to sample the many area restaurants in town or on the waterfront. Pricing for the package deal is based on double-occupancy lodging; let us know if you want to specify your roommate in advance among the other participants. If you desire a single occupancy, or if you will be traveling with family, please contact us for a quote on a private room rate, or a multi-bed, family room rate.
There are two payment options; you may pay the full registration fee up front, or you may pay a 50% non-refundable deposit now and pay the remaining balance four months before the start date. Click below to select your payment option and register.
Notice for Diploma Scholars: The cost is reduced to $1,115 for currently enrolled students in good standing in Mercy In Action’s Diploma in International Midwifery & Maternal/Child Health program. If you are a Diploma Scholar, pay the deposit amount only using the payment link below.
Refund Information:
In the unfortunate event that you are unable to attend a Mercy In Action seminar or workshop after registering, as we are a non-profit organization*, we are happy to assist you so that your fee can be applied toward another amazing seminar or workshop later or converted into a donation. Thank you for your understanding that there are no refunds (with exceptions made for a documented illness that prevents you from traveling to the Philippines.)
*Mercy In Action is an independent non-profit organization that receives no government funding—support from program fees and donations make our global work possible.
DATES
February 7-14, 2027
OTHER DETAILS
Below is information for the 2027 Diploma Workshop plus Learn & Serve in the Philippines.
Flying into the Philippines:
The usual airport for arrivals into the Philippines is Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (code MNL), 3-4 hours away from our venue by bus, depending on traffic. The airport nearest to us is Clark International Airport (code CRK), one hour away from our headquarters in Olongapo, but only a few airlines fly into Clark. When you buy your ticket, please email us a copy of your international flight itinerary.
Important dates to arrive and depart:
You should plan to arrive in the country no later than early morning on the day we begin. Check-in for the hotel is 3 pm, and you will need to be ready to join our group by 5 pm on the first evening for a welcome dinner, so plan enough time to get to Olongapo from Manila (the trip may take longer than you think due to bus schedules, traffic getting through Manila, etc.) Don’t plan a flight out sooner than the next morning after our last day. Of course, you are free to arrive in the country early or stay later to do some tourism travel, but be aware that if you are in the country more than a total of thirty (30) days, you will need to get a visa (a visa is available in the country for a fee and a trip to our local immigration office).