Every day, we hear women’s stories of the threats they face, of the violence they confront, of the obstacles to health and happiness that an unjust world throws before them. On Mother’s Day, we want to celebrate the many mothers we work with around the world who overcome these obstacles with tenacity and bravery.
From now until Mother’s Day, we’ll share some of these women’s stories, from six of the communities where MADRE works, on our blog and website. And with each story, we’ll give you a way to join forces with these indomitable women, who are working each day to make the world better than it was the day before.
We’re calling this series Mothers Make the World – and it starts right now.
Our partners at the International Feminist Solidarity Camp told us the story of Crista, a young mother in Port-au-Prince:
“One day, we received a telephone call. ‘We don’t know what to do,’ our contact, Martin, told us. ‘A young woman has just given birth on the sidewalk in the middle of town. She cannot move because she has a broken leg and hipbone from the earthquake. She has a cast over half her body.’ Our health teams sprung into action to help Crista and her baby, Carlitos. We pulled together an emergency package of food, water, diapers, baby clothing, a lantern, a sleeping bag and plastic sheets to create a shelter until we could find a tent. It touched our hearts to see the new mother smile at us, even through her excruciating pain. Eventually, we were able to get Crista to a clinic where she underwent surgery on her hip. ‘It was incredible—with so much death around me, I brought life into this world,’ Crista told us, smiling. ‘I thought there was no one to help me, but then you came.’”
Crista is one of the many women that your contributions have enabled us to help. In the critical days following the earthquake, MADRE worked with Partners in Health to support Zanmi Lasante and provide emergency medical care. MADRE also partnered with women’s rights groups to distribute tents, medicine, clothing, hygiene products and baby formula for orphans. And MADRE has supported multiple delegations of Creole-speaking midwives who are providing critical reproductive health care to women in Haiti and training midwives to deliver ongoing care.
How You Can Help This Mother’s Day:
A gift of $35 will provide our partners in Haiti with one safe delivery kit. Each safe delivery kit contains a small bar of soap for washing hands, a plastic sheet to serve as the delivery surface, clean string for tying the umbilical cord, a new razor blade for cutting the cord, a bulb syringe for safely cleaning the baby's nose and pictorial instructions that illustrate the sequence of delivery events and hand-washing.
MADRE is partnering with several organizations in Haiti to ensure that pregnant women have a safe and healthy birthing experience, even during this time of crisis. With every gift you make for this Mother’s Day, we will send a beautiful card to the person of your choice, telling them about the important work that you are supporting in their name.
To read other stories from the Mothers Make the World series, click here.
Thank you for being a voice and advocate for women around the globe!
Posted by: Ron | April 23, 2010 at 02:23 PM