CleanBirth - Saving Mothers and Babies in Laos
CleanBirth.org - Donate $5 Saves 2 Lives
The project is moving and growing. We are in the process of sending 1,000 kits to Laos. Our July training of 16 nurses is scheduled for June 23-29.
The nurses have requested digital cameras to use when registering mothers, tracking the kit use and for capturing Safe Birth Outreach sessions. This will enable us to better document the work being done.
At the beginning of our current crowdfunding campaign I got an email from Anfernee Chansamooth, co-founder, Kaboom Hub. He offered to donate 5% of one month’s earnings to CleanBirth.org.
We are so grateful. Read more for his story:
Sabaidee Kristyn,
I first came across Cleanbirth.org through your campaign on
StartSomeGood.com. The campaign struck me because of the wonderful
work that you are doing to help mothers and infants in Laos. I have a personal connection to Laos because my family are from there.
In 2011 I visited my country of birth for the first time after migrating to Australia thirty-three years ago. I visited my late mother’s village and saw the house where she and her many siblings were born and raised. To be able to see what modest means our family came from, and to know that my parents did everything in their power to escape and create a better life for all of us – wow that was both an eye-opening and humbling experience.
I taught at a village school while I was there. When I researched
statistics about education in Laos and was shocked to learn that many
kids do not make it past primary level education due to lack of quality teachers, funding, and resource challenges – especially in the villages. I consider myself very fortunate to have been given the opportunities that I’ve had in my life.
Sometimes mothers and infants aren’t so fortunate as my mother and I
were. So this is why I feel connected to Cleanbirth.org and the work
that you are doing in Laos.
Last year my business partner Poy and I launched Kaboom Hub. We work with businesses to increase their exposure and get more leads through online marketing. Each month we support a philanthropic organziation by donating 5% of our earnings.
It brings us great personal joy to see what Cleanbirth.org is doing and to be able to support such a worthwhile project.
Best wishes,
Anfernee Chansamooth
Co-founder, Kaboom Hub
Last night Jen Burden, founder of World Moms Blog and my awesome partner for good, hosted a Twitter Party for CleanBirth.org.
My friend Cate texted me in response to a FB post pre-party:
A. I don’t know what a twitter party is
B. Are you still up at 9pm?
She hit it right on the head. No real clue about the first and yeah for sure I am tucked up in bed by 9pm.
9pm comes, I’m logged on with my #worldmomsblog at the ready, waiting… And then it happened, +/- 20 advocates for maternal health showed up. Jen was the perfect moderator: welcoming newcomers, asking interesting questions, and clarifying points. And I got to spread the word about CleanBirth.org in an interactive way.
So, Cate, now we know what a Twitter Party is and I did the whole thing in my PJs:)
Thanks a million to all of our donors.
In particular this week, thank you to World Moms Blog for getting people excited and spreading the word.
In the past 2 days, we were featured on 2 blog posts and more than 50 tweets:
1. http://www.worldmomsblog.com/2013/02/05/social-good-saves-lives-laos/
2. http://www.finneganandthehughes.com/2013/02/06/worthy-wednesdays-shotlife-cleanbirth-org/
World Moms Bloggers changed the Facebook pictures to reflect the campaign AND forwarded many of my posts and those of Jen Burden. A word about Jen: I am wow-ed by this woman who, while running World Moms Blog and caring for her kids, has managed to devote hours to CleanBirth.org.
Thank you to all!
Watching this week’s episode of Downton Abbey in which Lady Sybil died of eclampsia, I sobbed. And sobbed. I knew I was over-doing it but it was just so sad.
This fictional character’s death perhaps shouldn’t have elicited such emotion from me, especially since real mothers die every minute of every day. But seeing a woman in die in childbirth, even in a fictional 1920’s English-manor setting, underlines the importance of making birth safe. In many countries giving life can still mean death for mothers.
CleanBirth.org works to prevent just such preventable deaths in southern Laos, where moms and babies die at alarming numbers. By providing birthing supplies and education, we hope to lower these rates. Among other things, we alert women and families to potential pregnancy warning signs like those experience by Sybil: headache, dizziness, swollen legs, and incoherence.
Be part of our campaign to save 1,000 moms and 1,000 babies:
http://startsomegood.com/Venture/cleanbirth/Campaigns/Show/save_the_lives_of_mothers_and_infants_in_laos
Here’s so more information from an ABC article on eclampsia.
Preeclampsia, sometimes called toxemia, is out-of-control hypertension in pregnancy and can be particularly dangerous because a woman usually doesn’t feel sick.
One in 10 women will develop preeclampsia and 1 in 100 will develop the more serious eclampsia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.