adiaha.com

Earth Birth is a project run by midwives and doulas to help mothers in war and trauma affected areas give birth safely and peacefully.

Our pilot program is based in Gulu, Uganda. We are setting up small on site birthing centers in refugee camps where women can come for comprehensive services, counseling, education and care. We are linking with community organizations and hospitals in these areas to help “child mothers” (women who were impregnated as victims of political abduction and rape) gain access to jobs, school and childcare so that they can mother with every possible opportunity.

Our goals include community sustainability, lowered maternal and infant mortality rates, lowered HIV/AIDS transmission rates from mother to child, access to supplies and local herbs, access to trauma therapy and counseling, the experience of a ‘positive’ birth to facilitate empowerment and mother/child bonding and the ability to articulate one’s story.

The ability to articulate one’s story is an integral theme of the Earth Birth project. Women have always told stories as a form of information transmission and ownership of events. To have safe spaces for the sharing of taboo and traumatic events allows for understanding and processing of events in context, ownership of experience and networking among women- all of which are integral to a healthy women’s movement and improved practice of motherhood. Our spaces function as a community centers for story circles, workshops in active listening and sharing.

Traditional birth attendants live throughout the refugee camps, most of them victims of war and mothers themselves. These women are the cornerstone of the birthing center sites. Our international group of midwives work with the TBAs to develop practices that are community centered, culturally competent and sustainable. The TBA’s are offered professional development, training, counseling and jobs.

We are partnering with Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, school director, midwife and winner of the CNN Hero’s award to create a project that is truly of and for women’s health in this area. Safe and peaceful birth experiences are necessary for a generation that is to live without war.

Earth Birth has begun fund raising and are using an incredible fund raising site called givemeaning.org. On this site anyone can develop a project and allow potential funders to see and donate. We have set up a site and now we need ‘votes’ from the community in order to make it an active project. You do not need to give money, you just have to read the description and vote for us!  VOTE HERE!

All content is from Rachel Zaslow - Midwife

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 1:43 am and is filed under Pregnancy, Poltical, International, Family, Creative. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.