CleanBirth - Saving Mothers and Babies in Laos
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We still haven’t heard from 3 clinics.
Why? Noi, our on the ground tracker, says, “because of the rain made the communication more difficult.”
Makes you realize how remote these places really are when all communication ceases due to rain.
36 children die of preventable causes each day
Today, on this 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, I am reflecting on prejudice and it’s effect on a child’s life.
His dream should be our dream for kids worldwide:
“…I have a dream
That my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
The potential of a child should never be determined by their skin color, gender, or country of birth. But it is…everyday worldwide. From the US to Laos.
In the world today, a child’s chance of survival and growth greatly depends on where they are born.
We must fight to ensure that every baby survives infancy, gets proper nutrition and grows to be a healthy child, goes to school and learns, and is able to reach her potential.
We must not think that poor children are different from our own, we must not stick our heads in the sand and ignore the injustice.
CleanBirth.org’s work in Laos is aimed at giving the poorest children the best chance of surviving birth. While this is an important step, we must do more to support medical and nutritional care for children. For example, we should train our CleanBirth Volunteers to address nutrition in their communities, where more than half of children are malnourished and suffer stunted growth.
While I was in Laos, I inadvertently made a lot of little kids cry. I didn’t try to pick them up or anything but one look at my blue eyes and they started climbing on their moms…
See, that’s why we are empowering locals: insiders are much more effective than outsiders at winning trust and spreading information.
(See captions and watch the meltdown unfold)
Happy to report the texts from the nurses in their remote clinics keep rolling in.
We have now heard from 7 of 15 clinics about the # of kits distributed in July: 82 all together.
1 Naborn clinic: gave 21
2 Kokbok clinic: gave 7
3 Kaza clinic: gave 15
4 Beungxai clinic: gave 6
5 Phatang clinic: gave 15
6 Toumlee-thong clinic: gave 6
7 Pachoudorn clinic: gave 5
If we double this number, assuming the other 1/2 of clinics are using as many, we will have distributed 160 or so kits in July. Therefore, over six months, the clinics should use nearly all of the 1,000 kits currently available to them in Laos. The half-year Clean Birth Kits re-stock is scheduled for December 20 in Salavan, Laos — perfect timing.