Mercy In Action’s Experience the Model Learn and Serve

Walk beside us in the Philippines

January 27-February 3, 2026

Note: This event has limited space and often fills up fast. When full, we will close registration and post here. Until then, registration is open and ongoing.

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 hotel resort where you will stay is located on the edge of the ocean in a bay surrounded by mountains, so you can enjoy refreshing beach time between learning sessions.

Unique Continuing Education

As part of the training, Mercy In Action staff will teach 28 hours of accredited continuing education. Successful completion will certify learners to become Helping Mothers and Babies Survive instructors. In addition, we teach disaster preparation strategies for midwives and other birth workers, and 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 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 midwives and doctors! 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 just 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 outcomes of birth all over the world. 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.

Your Instructors and Guides:

Vicki, Rose, and Ian Penwell are midwives with decades of experience in high-risk deliveries living in the Philippines (as well as home and birth center deliveries in the USA), and they often teach midwives and primary health care practitioners worldwide. Matt and Kristen Benoit are a married midwife/nurse couple who have lived in the Philippines at various times, while 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 those islands. You will meet our wonderful Philippine team of midwives and kasamas (home companions, also known as maternity care accompaniers) and be invited to see first-hand the Mercy In Action “Birth Model That Works*, as we are all proud to share that model with everyone!

*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.

PRICES

Learn & Serve Seminar in the Philippines: $2,995

Price includes hotel lodging, breakfast, and lunch most days (dinner will be on your own, available at one of the many area eateries.) Pricing is based on single-occupancy lodging; if you will be traveling with your family, please contact us for a family 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.

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

January 27 through February 3, 2026

CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS

CEU: Participants will receive 28 hours of continuing education MEAC Accredited CEUs

OTHER DETAILS

Below is information for the 2026 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 January 27. Check-in for your hotel is 3 pm January 27, and you will need to be ready to join our group by 5 pm in the 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, etc.) Our last event on February 3 ends at 5 pm, so don’t plan a flight out sooner than about 8 hours after that. Of course, you are free to arrive into 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 (available in country for a fee and a trip to our local immigration office.)