A Million Mothers.org

Beloved Friends,

I arrived home last Thursday afternoon after nearly a month at Bumi Sehat’s Bali clinic.  In the time I was away, Robin and I made the decision Bumi Sehat would go to Haiti to set up a permanent clinic in Jacmel, north of Port-au-Prince, in response to the massive earthquake which devastated the country.

This decision to establish a permanent maternal/child gentle birth clinic was encouraged along by our partners Direct Relief International, our donors and a small amazing team of midwives and medics, determined to go make a difference.

In the 2 weeks since Robin and Kelly left on Team One, the earth has moved again…not in violence and destruction, but gently and steadily…ever so slowly… towards peace and health…one tiny grain of sand at a time.  Our permanent clinic is quickly becoming a reality.

It has seemed impossible at times, confusing, chaotic, always overwhelming…as the conditions on the ground in Haiti are bound to be right now.  Patient care is the best that can be affected for right now and so much less than what any health care provider would ever want to consider ok enough.

Sometime in the next 3 weeks I will be leaving for Haiti to join Team Two in Jacmel, north of Port-au-Prince, site of Bumi Sehat’s new permanent Haiti clinic.

Between now and the end of February I need to raise $5000 to aid the immediate relief effort in our Bumi Sehat Haiti clinic.

Much is needed and in a short time.

This Sunday I am hosting a gathering at The Loft at Gentle Landing Midwifery at 2:30 (only small, nursing babies please…no children). Please see the attached poster about the event.  I hope you will join me and bring all of your friends.

I invite you from the bottom of my heart to pass this email along to all you know.  Then please consider coming on Sunday for moral support, updates, stories of hope…and ways you may be able to help the maternal/child effort toward safe and gentle birth in Haiti.  Haiti represents a disaster of Tsunami proportions in our Western Hemisphere.  The pain is so close to us.  The love and hope of healing for Haiti is ours to remember.

I am attaching the freshest field report sent yesterday from Robin about the first few days on the ground.  In 2 days we will have delivery of our 44 foot solid dome structure, the new home of our permanent clinic.

Yesterday we were granted a license to operate from the Haitian government.  A license to care for pregnant and birthing women whose entire lives have been shattered.

The NYT did a very accurate article on birth in Haiti after the disaster:

http://www.facebook.com/l/7698f;www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/world/americas/30birth.html?hp

18 months ago, the A Million Mothers campaign email made it across the world two times, raising $20,000 for Bumi Sehat and gentle, affordable Birth Care for women in Bali and Aceh, Indonesia.  One mother at a time. One dollar at a time.   www.amillionmothers.org