I am here in Bali at Bumi Sehat, an amazing birth center that does so much more. Well, now Haiti will have their very own Bumi Sehat as supplies and funds are already being collected. Touchdown in Haiti is Jan. 25th, 2010! Check out the info below from a Bumi Sehat Team Haiti midife:
From Kelly Dunn, midwife, team member going to Haiti:
"With a team of medics, midwives, and builders we are headed to Haiti with the goal to build a long term standing clinic to serve the local community, focused on the birthing women and children. They desperately need our help during the short term and we will be establishing a tent clinic to meet there needs beyond birthing women. When Bumi Sehat went to Aceh we were able to immediately make an impact and long term were able to establish a clinic in Aceh that is run by the locals with our assistance to help over 7,000 people annually. We went into Aceh with a truck and supplies coming from Medan and opened a clinic in a remote area that was desperate for help that saw over 70 patients per day. I am very proud to tell you that very same clinic is STILL up and running today serving the people of Aceh. It is the ONLY clinic in Aceh that did not shut its doors after the focus of the world was off of the victims from the tsunami. We are going into Haiti with this very same idea. Our goal is to set up a clinic that will attract other NGOs and local community members to help their own people. We are planning on receiving help and support from larger organizations. We will be looking toward OXFAM to help us get clean water once we have a location. They were able to get clean water to our clinic in Aceh within hours of us opening. We will look toward UNICEF to supply us with birthing kits and infant supplies. They were our right hand in getting lost supplies to the traditional midwives in the region. WHO was our savior for malaria medicine, which we were able to put to use to save the lives of 2 children that would have died, had the medicine come even one hour later. We were able to link up with the Spanish Red Cross that gave us transportation in and out of the Aceh region. Catholic Relief Services gave us our moped to get patients to larger facilities. We will be using debris and materials that are available to build a structure that can offer a safe birthing space and medical aide to all. Our plan is to go in for one month leaving it to local professionals that will be connected to the other NGOs that are still there. Our clinic will be a resource center to connect the people with the aide that is available. This is the most important action. The amount of supplies and aide that come into a disaster relief area is huge. The trick is to direct those supplies and aide to the people. Rural communities are easily over looked. We will be in communication with all surrounding communities to help them receive what they need. This is the very same model that we used going into Aceh. Bumi Sehat, Aceh has helped over 1,000 people and has staffing volunteers from all over the world. It is managed and run by locals that have kept its dream and vision alive. We cannot move forward with this vision until we have funding. Going into a country that is completely destroyed and helping people 24 hours a day is the easy part of this journey. The difficult part is raising funds in order to do our work. The more money that we raise equals the more supplies that we can purchase and bring directly to the victims of this horrible nightmare. By donating money to our nonprofit organization (501(c)3) you will get birthing mothers to a safe place. By donating you will be helping Haitians with general medical needs. By donating today, you will support in teaching and encouraging mothers to breastfeed and sustain their children with the best food possible, breast milk. By donating, you will be helping to create a resource center that will eventually be a pride and joy of a community, for the Haitian people. You will be helping the Haitian people help themselves long term. We do not have any over head; we do not have any office bills to pay. We will be using every cent to buy supplies that will be going directly to the people of Haiti. Our list is long for the medical supplies that we will have to bring from the United States. Bumi Sehat is doing all that we can to raise money and supplies from other support organizations."
I am so proud to be part of such a problem solving team! If you want to go to Haiti and help, please check out the link to get connected!
