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Shining the light of Dr. King’s words upon discrimination against children

infantbrotherToday, 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.

Let’s shine the light of Dr. King’s words upon discrimination against children and become warriors in the cause of children’s rights.

 

 

Laos Here I Come

In a few short days, I am off to Moscow to visit my in-laws and, from Moscow where my kids will remain, I travel to my beloved Bangkok.  From Bangkok to Vientiane for 2 days and onward to Pakse for 10 days.  It’s not enough time but it never is.  Since I am on mom-time, I will get 10 times more done in a much shorter time than my pre-kid self could have.

My 2-day trip to Laos’ capital is filling up! I will be met at the train station by Valerie Baumal, CleanBirth.org supporter and artist.  She and I will meet with Dee Harlow, CleanBirth.org’s liason in the capital.   (Dee just won a $2,000 J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust grant for CleanBirth.org!!).

Later that day I am meeting with PSI to discuss possible future programming and a factory that makes local birth kits.

Then Sunday, Dee and another volunteer are hosting a tea for the women I have nicknamed “CleanBirth.org Ambassadors.”  These “Ambassadors,” who live in Laos and believe in our mission, have been so generous with their time and donations. I look forward to meeting them in person!

Following these packed days, I head to Pakse.  There I will meet with a midwife from Australia and a British woman living nearby — both are interested in supporting CleanBirth.org.  Later that day, I head to Salavan where I will remain for 10 days, training the new nurses and brainstorming with my partner organization about future programming.

It’s going to be wonderful and busy — Laos here I come!!

Crowdfunding: $3070!!: 19 Down, 19 to Go

 

Facebook CB.org & WMB FINAL19 Days into the campaign we have raised $3050!

19 Days left to raise $1930. We can do it!

Last weeks CleanBirth.org + World Moms Blog campaign kicked some serious butt: $685 raised from 23 donors! That’s birth supplies and training to keep 137 moms and 137 babies in Laos safe.

These donors would not have learned about us without the efforts of Jennifer Burden and her team of global moms! I am so grateful.

 

My Birth Story: Nikolai 9/2/05

nikolaiday1I got pregnant in Oxford, England. My pregnancy was easy. I was cared for by a wonderful Scottish midwife; never saw a doctor. I maybe had 2 blood draws and 1 ultrasound. I felt healthy and like what was happening was normal. My husband and I took a Mongan Method, Hypnobirthing Class http://www.hypnobirthing.com/.

At 30 weeks we moved to Berlin, Germany for my husband’s MBA internship. I explored Berlin’s neighborhoods, increasingly slowly, took a German class (world’s most pregnant language student) and saw a local doctor once to check-in.

At 37 weeks we returned to Oxford to learn that my baby was breech. At the hospital at 38 weeks, a doctor tried to right him via ECV to no avail. So, my midwife advised that we schedule a C-section for 39 weeks because “only 2 doctors at the hospital have experience delivering a breech.” I trusted her, so that was that.

On the big day, we hopped in one of those cool English cabs, and en route I decided that if the baby was a boy he wouldn’t be Dimitri but Nikolai. The girl name was as locked in as my breech baby: Nadya. (She came 2 years later)

A spinal block, epidural and I was under the lights. Tugging, my husband’s blue eyes, and a baby put right on my chest. Perfect. Mine. Nikolai.

Training Lao Health Workers to Use Clean Birth Kits

“Off to Laos!  I am really doing this!” I enthused in a text to a friend en route to JFK for my around-the-world flight.  I was headed to a remote province of Laos to provide local women with Clean Birth Kits (essential birthing supplies: picture instructions, absorbent sheet, soap, cord clamp, sterile blade that prevent infection) and training on safe, hygienic birthing practices.

It took me 48 hours to get to Thailand, due to a delayed flight, and I was worse for the wear on arrival.  En route from Thailand to Laos, my stomach hurt from travel-induced anxiety, malaria pills were causing another kind of digestive distress and I was sleep-deprived.  Plus, I didn’t really know where I was going: a cell phone number from my Lao partner organization, OVC, was my only information. Arriving in the Thai-Lao border town, Pakse, I obsessively dialed my contact for hours until she answered.  Much to my relief, she picked me up and drove me from Pakse to Salavan, where OVC is based.

My first day in Salavan, I knew that the stress and discomfort of travel were well worth it.  I saw immediately, that the directors of OVC, Nong and Nyai, were women that I could work with.  They are efficient, hard-working, committed and generous.  For more than 10 years, they have been providing medical, educational and agricultural support to ethnic minorities in this remote region.  They believe in empowering the local people: seven of OVC’s staff of twelve live in the communities and are ethnic minorities themselves.

The morning after I arrived, we kicked off the Clean Birth Kits training.  Nong and Nyai had decided that the Clean Birth Kits Pilot Project should initially target four community clinics in Tahoy District, home to the Tahoy people. The Tahoy live deep in the forest and their religious beliefs lead women to give birth alone.  OV hopes that in addition to providing life-saving supplies, women and families will be educated about the need to assist laboring mothers.

Four nurses, a District Health official, and OVC staff members traveled for hours on motorbike to attend the training.  They were all-business and ready to learn.  There was none of the giggling or unquestioning nods that I experienced working with Burmese or Khmer health workers.  During the 8 hours we worked together, they asked questions, challenged ideas, and helped adapt the program to match needs on the ground.  I was impressed with their professionalism and commitment to introducing Clean Birth Kits, which they agreed “the mothers would be happy to use.

In the days after the training, we visited the nurses’ at their clinics.  They are in dire need of supplies.  These clinics have little to offer in terms of medicines, equipment consists of wood slat beds, and refrigeration was not available.

The Clean Birth Kits Project will enable nurses to provide women with birthing supplies to be used at the clinic or at home.   CleanBirth.org also funds the nurses’ travel to the most remote villages, 5-8 hours by motorcycle.  They will bring birth kits and provide educational sessions to people who have never stepped inside a clinic.

Having the support of the nurses, the government (District Health official) and OV staffers, who will oversee the pilot project is crucial and I have it.  I trust that they will execute the program.

CleanBirth.org has committed 1,200 birth kits and community outreach support to these clinics.  Each kit costs $5.  Please consider a donation: www.cleanbirth.org/donation.  All of your money goes directly to the communities.  CleanBirth.org has no salaried employees.

In the next installment, we head into the villages to see mothers and children.  Stay tuned.

 

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