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For the past few months my church has held a monthly “Advocacy Breakfast” with a presentation from an expert on a different Millennium Development Goal (MDG). There are eight United Nations MDGs, established in 2000 and, broadly, these goals are far from being achieved, with only 5 years remaining before the deadline. These breakfasts typically attract about 25.
Last Saturday morning was the biggest such event in the series, with a presentation from Dr Jean Chamberlain Froese, founder and Executive Director of ‘Save the Mothers’, about the 5th MDG – Maternal Health. There were over 120 people for breakfast, largely because the Hamilton Spectator ran a large feature article about the work of Dr Chamberlain Froese the weekend before. It was fortunate that she was able to squeeze our little church breakfast into her busy schedule, just one week before presenting to the G8 summit and meeting the Prime Minister.
I first found out about her and her work over a year ago when I attended the book launch of her husband, Thomas Froese. He is a journalist and writer, and the two of them live in Hamilton, Ontario for the four summer months and in Uganda for the remaining 8 months, for the past several years. I bought a signed copy of his book as a Christmas gift for my brother.
Prior to establishing Save the Mothers, Dr. Chamberlain Froese worked as an obstetrician in Yemen, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Pakistan. It was there she was confronted with the tragic scourge of mothers dying from preventable causes. While working in Uganda she decided to do something about it.
After all that she had seen and learned she knew building another hospital wasn’t the answer. The complexities and silence surrounding maternal mortality demanded social and cultural change. Together with her Ugandan colleagues she founded Save the Mothers, an international non-profit organization that educates local leaders on safe motherhood.
My first impression of her before she spoke was that, apart from being very pretty, she was thin, even emaciated – no doubt a product of the life she leads in giving of herself to her calling. Prevented me from smothering my breakfast with strawberries and syrup.
Her presentation to us was a real eye-opener. She compared Ugandan and sub-Sahara maternal health statistics to those we enjoy in North America. For example, in a typical North American city, fewer than 1 in 4,000 women will die from childbirth. In sub Sahara Africa, it’s one in 16. That’s a shameful reflection of the disparities between our world and theirs. Many will simply bleed to death, which could be prevented in many cases with the use of a drug costing less than one dollar.
Here’s the link to the Save the Mothers website:
http://www.savethemothers.org/
Post note: Today, at the G8 Summit Muskoka initiative, Prime Minister Harper announced $7 Bn for maternal health – perhaps her meeting with him helped!
It will cost you nothing to hit the link and sign this petition but it could help to save thousands of lives over the long term.
A lot of good people have donated a lot of money to help the people of Haiti over the past several days and this is helping the survivors and displaced people in the present and in the short term.
But Haiti's pain and suffering is going to last a long, long time!
Here's something that you can do that can make a huge positive difference to alleviate a lot of that pain - not just in the short term, but far into the future. Hit the link and sign the petition to cancel Haiti's debt.
For the past several years Haiti has spent far too much money just servicing the interest on it's huge debt. They have only been able to tackle the interest whilst the debt stays static or even rises. This debt has been crippling Haiti financially for years - it's fucking insane!
This money could be spent on rebuilding all of it's lost infrastructure, medicines, hospitals and other vital life-saving expense.
SO PLEASE HIT THE LINK AND SIGN THE PETITION FOR FREE!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/haiti_cancel_the_debt_13/97.php
Let the bells ring, the conch shells, drums and gongs sound 350 times for climate justice!
Since immemorial times in cultures across the world musical instruments like bells and drums have been used to warn people of imminent danger – but also to call people to religious service, marking important moments in worship and seeking to connect to God.
Sunday 13 December marks the height of the talks at United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
At 3 p.m. – marking the end of a high profile ecumenical celebration at the Lutheran Cathedral in Copenhagen, the Church of Our Lady – the churches in Denmark will ring their bells, and Christians around the world are invited to echo them by sounding their own bells, shells, drums, gongs or horns 350 times.
We envisage a chain of chimes and prayers stretching in a time-line from the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific – where the day first begins and where the effects of climate change are already felt today – to northern Europe and across the globe.
Why 350 times?
350 refers to 350 parts per million: This is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere according to many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments. For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 ppm of CO2, but now the concentration stands at 390 ppm. Unless we are able to rapidly reduce CO2 levels again, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.
http://www.350.org/map
Subject: Dr. Oz - Swine Flu - Good Advice/H1N1 Preventive Methods
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