Australian Team

Marg Docking

Founder & Director

Raising our children in remote Indigenous communities had its challenges. Keeping the focus on God’s design for us all to live in harmony was a strain at times. Teenagers were caught in complex issues such as sexuality, alcohol, domestic violence, unemployment and apathy. For my husband, John, and I, making sure our own children had hope and a desire to resist the pressures of the world really stretched our skills and our faith.

Our respective midwifery and plumbing careers have taken us both on a long journey and, after 16 years in Albury, we went as interns to Uganda. We discovered the same issues existed for teenagers in Africa. But without health care and education systems to support them many fell into the poverty trap.

As a midwife I found the maternal death rate appalling and discovered many of its causes originated in the community. And John discovered it was going to take more than teaching people vocational skills to lift them from poverty.

In a male dominated society men often think having many children brings strength, respect and God’s blessing. But they are unable to think through the consequences of perpetuating the poverty cycle through lack of resources to provide effectively for their families.

So how could we reach the masses of young people with lifesaving advice on God’s design for true love and healthy relationships, how their bodies work, and effective use of contraception?

Of course – use the men!

Now we are seeing “train the trainer” workshops in reproductive health starting to shift male thinking about sex, pregnancy, childbirth, the role of women and family size.