Thankyou Cambodia

My time in Cambodia is almost up! Tomorrow afternoon Myah and I start the long journey home.

It’s been a month.  One whole amazing month to observe, learn and experience the way of life for the Khmer people.

I’ve been thinking of my highlights, what things have touched me the most, and what things were fun.

I’d like to share with you some of these amazing moments in my life.

The biggest one is that I actually managed to get me and my baby to Cambodia all by myself! That was a huge step to freedom to me, a huge step to independence, being a strong woman,  a capable woman, a woman who follows her heart. It reminded me of my own potential and capabilities as a human being. I can step out of the box and allow myself to experience the bigger world that is out there.

Other amazing moments involve mostly just hanging out with the Khmer people. I learned so much from their behaviour, their way of life by being present with them. Myah and I would hang out with the kids next door, all the mummas gathered at the little stall, the  teenage orphan who lived in the next room to me (who was apart of LifeOptions ‘Spread Your  Wings And Fly Program’), and the midwives all working downstairs. We would chat, not speaking much of each others language, but we would laugh and sign and have fun. I’m sure Myah was speaking Khmer with them! She would say something, and they would all giggle and say ‘khmer, khmer!’

I got to be apart of our neighbours birth. It was beautiful and powerful. Women in Cambodia are strong. They have so much courage.

Sharing information and having education sessions with the midwives was pretty nice. We shared our customs and our ideas around birth. I talked to them about some practices in the West, such as lotus birth, water birth, doula support and physiological 3^rd stage.

Being able to help set up a new Birth Centre was fun! Organising the antenatal room, the potnatal ward, the std clinic and the postpartum ward was just so exciting, I really love organising and setting up spaces, so having the oppurtunity to help set up a whole Birth Centre was a dream!

Being apart of the Blessing for the Birth Centre! The monks came and began and ended with chanting, and after each segment of chanting, the circle of people present would move forward  an inch and the monks would continue to chant and bless the people and space with chant, water and flower petals. It was really special to be apart of and to be so welcomed into ancient ceremony. The ceremony finished and we drank iced tea and cold lychee drinks. 

Meeting amazing people! I have never known resilience until I came to Cambodia. I have talked to some incredible human beings . The Traditional Birth Attendants are full of knowledge of a different kind, and I admire them greatly. I’ve met midwives who were trained in the Border Camps during Pol Pot times. They have incredible skill, more than any western midwife I have ever met. I have heard stories of resilience and the power of the human spirit. The beautiful midwife here at the Centre shared stories of when she was a  little girl in Pol Pot times,  who walked for a month with no food through the mountains. I’ve met several people, including one of the 7 only  survivors of the  prison camp of the Khmer Rouge. He is an old man, with sad eyes,  who saw the most atrocious acts of human evil. I’ve met with poor families out in the remote villages, who don’t have names, orphanages that are about to run out of food,  100’s of women who come in to centre for std’s who choose us over the other centres because we are kind. I’ve met the kids at the school, their faces so happy with minds enthusiastic and eager to learn.  

It’s been life changing being here. My eyes are open, my heart is full. It’s been such a privledge to be here. I’ll come vack one day, when my kids are older, and the time is right. But now it’s time for me to come home. 

Thankyou Cambodia. You are a country of resilient, courageous and strong human beings.

Orphanage

Not far passed the Birth Centre is an orphanage that LifeOption donates clothes and books to.

We went for a visit there today.

Many curious, shy faces peered from behind the walls. Many smiled, many waved, some simply stared.

It always pulls at my heart to see children who have no love.

But it seems that as well as very little love, these children will soon have very little food.

UNICEF have done an amazing thing by making a promise to pay for the food of these children for three years. At the end of this month, the 3 years is up. There is going to be no food.

I find this extremely distressing, especially when I think of families back home who spend $600 per week on food shopping alone with  families of only 4! It costs $500 per month to feed the orphans a nutricious diet.

And the thing is, that it isn't just this Orphanage. There are many Orphanages in the same position.

It's so hard. This Earth is a place of such extremes.

Midwife Extraordinaiire

Pec is an amazing midwife who works solo at a village birth centre. She is responsible for the health of the village which has around 10,000 people. On her own, she is the midwife for approximately 30 - 40 births per month and around 5 abortions.

She does everything relating to health of women and babies that needs to be done, whether that is STD checks, breast checks, antenatal, postpartum and birth care, discussions about birth spacing, sex and caring for a newborn. She has incredible skill and an incredible commitment and passion to help the people in her village. She is at the centre pretty much 24/7 and rarely comes out of the village.

She transports women who need emergency care to a hospital when they need it. She deals with haemorrhaging post abortion and birth, babies not breathing, women with eclampsia all on her own in a village health centre with barely any resources.

She is amazing.

Birthing and postpartum practices in Cambodia

After a baby is born, there is a big knife placed near their head for the first month. This is so that Mother Spirit doesn't take them back home. As they get older the babies and kids have a colored string tied around their wrist or waist for the same reason. It is a protective amulet. I had to look twice when I first saw a huge meat cleaver sitting above the head of a newborn baby.

The girls all have earrings before they are one year old. Every one thinks Myah is a beautiful boy because her ears aren't pierced.

Babies have a herb mixture that is made fresh and placed on the fontanelle with the belief that it will heal over, and perhaps protect their brain.

In the first month, the Mummas lie in bed. The food is bought to her. Her other children are around but their needs are met by other family members. It is never questioned. This is just what they do. Makes perfect sense to me!


Some women have a ritual called "roasting" post birth. Women live in elevated houses and a fire is lite under the house and extreme smoking and heat for the woman helps her regain her strenght.  Many mothers and babies experiece burns to their bodies! They also admitted, it helps to keep the men away from them sexually for 7 days. (this part taken from www.lifeoptions.asia)

Kindness and sharing knowledge

Denise was approached by a midwife and asked if she can come to Cambodia to teach the midwives kindness.

This moved my heart.

I feel as though it is an obvious statement to make that women deserve to be treated with kindness and respect during their pregnancy, birth and mothering days.My own experience of having my first born child in a hospital was that the staff were too busy, uncaring and had no compassion to who I was or what my experience was like. This is a huge contrast to the unassisted homebirth of my last two daughters where I had support and kindness from friends and doula's for a month post birth.

The idea of bringing kindness to birthing women reminds me of how it is easy to get caught up in our own world, in our own beliefs, in our own judgements of what a brithing mother should be, act, think, do or say. I sometimes think we are so caught up in our own beliefs that we forget to honour the woman.

The other night we watched some dvd's together. We watched women birthing while in a deep squat, women birthing in the ocean, women birthing with doulas, midwives, at home, hosital, birth centre, lotus birth, twins, women birthing with no one touching her perineum when her baby is coming earthside. It was beautiful. And after watching those dvd's it gave us a quiet sharing space of what we thought, and how we would be, or not be in some of those situations. I loved it, and felt it was so important to have that space with kindness and no judgement so that we could actually share our thoughts and question what we saw without fear of being judged.

The kindness and the sharing that took place made me feel that this is possibly the best way to start to assist these midwives. If we come in with our 'save the world' attitude, we will get no where. We dont actually know how these people work, and what works for them. I think when we come in to their country, into their space, we need to start with kindness and with sharing knowledge. Sharing our stories gives us perspecitve and may give us some common ground in which to work with. When we have this sharing of knowledge, we get mutual respect.  And maybe then we can work alongside each other as we will have a better understanding of where the other is coming from.

A quick story, before I go, relating to this, was when I was speaking to a midwife about lotus birth. I was sharing the reasons why I chose lotus birth for 2 of my children, and one of the reasons was because of the space it holds in the first few days. Visitors respect the space more and there is a certain quiet and observing energy around the baby. We talked about how in western culture, it's the norm for babies to be passed to everyone in the room except mum and that the mumma baby space is often interrupted and intruded. She was very interested and said she sees how people would choose lotus birth. She shared with me that they wouldnt need lotus birth here because everyone always respects the mumma baby space and no one picks up the baby unless it is grandma passing the baby from the hammack to the mothers breast. In the first month the mumma does nothing but recover and restore with her baby and her food is cooked and delivered to her. That space is just naturally honoured. Our conversation  feels like a beautiful example of kindness and sharing, without judgememt or blame, and it give us perspective and respect for one another. 

Birth around the world

After days of our neighbour, Noon, telling me she wants her baby born and out, her babies birthday finally came.

Women in Cambodia often birth their babies easily and with no fuss. They walk around all during first stage, often with their mothers, stopping and holding onto something when a contraction comes, then continue on walking  when the contraction passes. The majority come in to centres during advanced labour and push their babies out. These women have incredible inner strength and resilience. They get on with what needs to be done, without being in their heads.

No one has breastfeeding problems. No one has 'not enough milk', 'too much milk' or 'my mum couldnt breastfeed so I can't' voices playing in their mind. Their babies attach to the breast sometime after birth, it doesn't have to be within the first hour and it normally isn't after time of skin to skin. It's so hot here that baby usually just lays next to Mumma, and then when baby makes a noise, Mumma picks it up and gives it breastmilk. There are not many families here that formula feed. It is simply a very dangerous choice in this country to do so, either because the water or the bottle is not clean enough and has deadly germs. I saw a sign once which said: 'Breastfed babies look like this' and there was a picture of a healthy plump child. Next to it it said 'Formula fed babies look like this': and there was a picture of a gravestone with a little flower on it.

Anyway, I'm going off track. Noon came into the centre after a restless night and morning at home. She lay on her bed on her back and we encouraged her to try a new position. She moved around freely, from her side, to the squatting, to kneeling, hardly making a sound. It was only about 2 hours of her being therer that her black eyed, black haired Khmer daughter was born. The placenta was born easily and fuss free physiologically and the cord was cut once it had stopped pulsating. Baby went to Mummas chest and  she looked relieved that her baby was here. It was beautiful.

This birth has bought up so many questions about birth around the world. Why is that it seems some culutres can just 'do birth'? These women in Cambodia all just get on with birth. They don't seem to need or want childbirth preparation classes, meditation for birth, spiritual guidance or hypnosis.It was the same in Ethiopia. No one asked for hypnosis and no one asked for epidurals or pain relief during birth.  At home in the west, it seems that birth is a huge market and we all pay (me included) large amounts of money to be  empowered, painfree, hypnotised, processed, zen and spiritual for our birth, and we still have an incredibly high caesarean rate and and even higher percentage of traumatised Mummas and Bubbas. Is it because in the west we are all in our heads that we physically can't get on with birth and we really do need all these other tools to help us out? Is it because in 3rd world countries, they don't really have an option, so they just 'get on with it'? And its not that one is right and one is wrong, its just an observation and a thought.

One thing I have noticed from being both here and Ethiopia is that women all sit together and spend their days in each others company. They have that village support and understanding without judgement. Is that the secret?

I don't know.

I don't have the answer.

But it has certainly got me thinking about the world and birth and the way we live within it.

In my eyes

In the car, travelling around Takeo. My heart and eyes are open, and out the window is a world I have never experienced.

There are people in the rice fields, harvesting. They wear the traditional Khmer scarf, soaked in water, wrapped around their heads to keep cool. They see us and wave and smile. They have hope in their faces.

Up the road is full of brothels. The young women stand out the front with a face full of make up and big, high shoes. They laugh when they see us and I can't help but wonder what is behind the laugh. It is nearly always the Mummies, Daddies and Aunties of these young women that actually put them there in this work to help pay off debt. A motorbike with 2 adult men and 1 small boy child pull up near one of the sex workers and starts talking. I feel sad when when I see it. These girls are forced into a life they didn't choose.

Passing by each village is a huge archway entrance. It is full of intricate designs and patterns. Huge statues of either elephants, tigers, or heads are on each side of the archway. They look magnificent, lined up along the main road. I almost want to drive up each village, to see these little worlds within worlds.

There are children with big bellies. They don't have enough protein. How does that affect brain function? My heart feels so open. These children have nothing.

The weather here is so hot and sticky, so not much babywearing happens! The baby is usually sitting on the hip of mum, dad, grandma, sister or cousin. And they often have hammocks under their homes (which are on stilts) and the baby lays in there while the elders swing, swing, swing them. I see children surrounding a hammock out the window, and one is swinging it back and forth. They are all smiling.

Its such a world of contrast here. And it makes me think of the power of the human spirit. It was only 30 years ago that Pol Pot and the horrific, unspeakable acts of the Khmer Rouge took over and destroyed everything. Cambodia truly is a place that is building everything from scratch again. They have had everything taken from them, but their human spirits, and it is that that is helping to slowly recover and rebuild this ancient Kingdom.

Out the window of  the car, my heart skips a beat. The beauty and ugliness of this place is quite overwhelming.

Revisiting The Poor Family

As humans, we need to keep in mind the way we speak and act, and it must always be done with  integrity and authenticity. I am finding myself practising this daily here.

Last week, when I met the Poor Family for the first time, we gave them some soap powder so that they could wash their clothes.

Yesterday we went back down to the village and stopped by The Poor Family. When the husband saw us pull up, he scurried along, and started looking very busy all of a sudden. It wasn't until we got over to their little house that we realised the husband was pulling all the clothes of the line and putting them in a pile, setting them on fire! I was absolutely gobsmacked as to why he was doing that. When asked what was he doing, he said that he is burning them because the clothes are too old. We realised that he had set them on fire because they hadn't been washed since we saw them last, and he felt ashamed.

How sad.

Their 3 year old also looked hot and floppy, apparently she has been that way for 3 days. The Mumma didn't want to take her to the near by health clinic, even though if they say they are poor they dont have to pay.   It is so shameful for her to have to admit that they don't have any money. If that young girls gets diarrheoa, then she is probably going to die.

We all left that place feeling overwhelmed. There have been many attempts to help, some of the plans in place are still being done by LifeOptions, such as bringing them rice, but what else can we do? What can we do to help them that isnt rescuing them, but is helping them to find their own feet on the ground so that their children have a chance to survive and grow into healthy adults? The phrase 'give a man a fish and you feed his family for a day or teach a man to fish and you feed his family for a lifetime' feels like what needs to work here.

There are ideas of a school for that particular village so the children get a chance to be educated, clean up days each fortnight, drunk groups for the husbands.

The main thing that stays with me is not giving up hope. This family is on the brink of hopelessness. If you have nothing, at least you have hope. If you lose hope, I believe you die. So, as overwhelming as it is, we cant give up hope for The Poor Family, because it may be our hope for their futures that ultimately keeps them alive.

Tuk Tuk!

Thankyou beautiful people who have donated to raise money for the Tuk Tuk! Because of your generosity and spirited hearts, we had enough money and went and purchased the Tuk Tuk in Phnom Penh on Tuesday and it is now in Takeo!

There are several Birth Centres / Womens Health Centres around Takeo that LifeOptions is involved with. It was decided that this Tuk Tuk would go to a Womens Health Centre that has recently lost a woman during birth. This women came into the centre during labour, bleeding. It was the middle of the night, and the hospital she was transferred to debated whether she could pay for care or not. So the decision was for her to wait until morning and catch a bus, to urgent medical care in Phnom Penh which she didn't have to pay upfront for. Unfortunately, she died on the bus on the way to help.

The Tuk Tuk is going to stay at that particular Womens Health Clinic so that if a scenario like that ever happens again, it will hopefully have a different, much happier ending. Also, there will be no charge to the woman if she needs to be transferred, it is funded by LifeOptions and the donations given by people like you.

So, there you go. All those donations I was given where you said 'Its not much, but I hope it helps', definitely has! Please know that it was all your donations of $10 and $20 that ultimately got us to the $2000 and look at what we have achieved together. A little red motorbike Tuk Tuk that is going to save lives of women, and therefore children, families, villages and communities.

The Poor Family

I went out to a village in remote Takeo and met a family who is known as The Poor Family. When asked if they had names, we were answered 'No, we don't think so, everyone just calls them The Poor Family'.

The Poor Family have touched our hearts.

The Poor Family were not always poor. The husband used to work, but hurt his back at work. He had a motorbike accident and needed an operation. To pay for this they sold their rice field. After the operation, he became an alcoholic. So, they began the downward spiral into poverty.

They have quite a few children, at least 5. Their fifth baby was born with a harelip so of course there was difficulty in feeding. In Cambodia, if you have a harelip, you don't have the operation until the baby is at least 6 month old. Until then, you need to somehow work out how to feed a baby that has deformities around the mouth. The midwives involved with LifeOptions went to visit them every week to see how they could help. Unfortunately, the baby had a bout of diarrheoa and died, returning to Mother Spirit.

From this babies death, LifeOptions have decided to continue to help this family. They have help rebuilt their small 1 room shack, which was once falling down on one side, and also plant a small vegie garden. Whenever one of the midwives goes out to near that particular village, they stop at the market and get some rice and some bananas for them.

I talked to them while I was there - I don't speak Khmer and they dont speak English, but it doesnt seem to matter - communication is communication, and I felt we had some sort of understanding. We smiled at each other, our babies played  whilst in our arms, and we got to paint a picture in each others minds about who we are and what we are doing.

It's such a different world over here, one that you can see images of and read about, but can't really understand unless your feet are on the same soil and you look in each others eyes.

Here I am! The beginning of it all!

Where do I start!?!

I travelled from Melbourne to Cambodia with a 7 month old, all on my own! And for someone is is such a cowardly lion about most things, I think I have done ok!

I was picked up at the airport after a long overnight flight with Myah. After leaving the wintery 9 degrees weather in Melbourne, Myah and I still are working out how to deal with this 32 degrees sticky hot heat! Sleeping right next to a fan helps!

Ive been introduced to the staff, they are all gorgeous and friendly, particularly the elder midwife Chong Nai Hy, who lived through the devastating Pol Pot times.  She is also willing to learn new ways of being with women, with treating women with different remedies and is fascinated in what us 'birang' (westerners) do in birth. Denise is wanting to bring the idea of water birth and delayed cord clamping here, but it is one step at a time, as birth in such a way here is unknown. 

Generally what happens is that a woman will come to hospital when she is labouring and will be examined. If she is in early labour, which basically means until her waters break or she starts pushing, then she will just wait in the waiting area with the other women who are in the same boat as her. Once she is called into the other room, she is on the small half bed with stirrups and directed to push until the baby is out. Cord clamped and cut immediately and then generally a quick cuddle with mum and then baby is on a bed next to mum. It is so hot here, there is not much skin to skin! It is very rare for women here to have breastfeeding problems. They just do it.

What makes the places Denise and Life Options Asia so special is that women are given privacy, respect and kindness. This doesn't happen in any other hospital or health clinic. The women that come here always leave saying that they felt listened to and it makes them feel happy.

So, since I've been here, Ive been to 2 hospitals - the big one in Phnom Penh and one out here in Takeo Province- , as well as the places I am volunteering with Life Options with - the Women's Health Clinic (which is where I live, well just across the road) and to the Birth Centre which officially opens on Saturday!

On quiet days I am hoping to do Education Sessions with the midwives here. Rachael has already done a few, one was about using garlic vaginally to treat different infections. The women here are poor and we are offering a free service and want to be able to give them remedies to use that is affordable to them. I had a short chat yesterday about lotus birth, but would like to talk about it more if they are open to it. There were lots of giggles and a few questions. One of them was worried about the salt I talked about to salt the placenta with, would travel up the umbilical cord and enter the baby. Another asked how many days it takes for the cord to fall off and what happens with the smell :) They are all willing to learn and listen. It is just one small step at a time. And as I am often reminded by my 9 year old, "how do you eat an elephant?" "one bite at a time"

Tomorrow I will be going to the village which I believe is 1 and a half hour by car and is very very remote. There is another health and birth centre there and a school.

Oh, there is so much to say, I am probably just rambling. Before I go though, I wanted to say that all the undies and pads were sorted out by Rachael and I into little packs. Each women will get 3 pairs of undies and 8 pads after she gives birth. We will distribute these out to the 3 birth centres I am volunteering at :) The women are ecstatic and so grateful for what we sisters in Australia have given them

Thank You

After wanting to reach $2000, I am excited to announce that we have now reached $2400!

A huge, loving, bubbling, full, squashy, THANK YOU to those who gave money donations for the Tuk Tuk Ambulance. You all have a special little warm spot in my heart.
There are quite a few of you so make yourself a cup of tea whilst I thank you all!

THANKYOU to:

Angela Rojas (You were the first to give me a donation!!)
Ella, Rowan and Elise
Jo, Ben and Lucy
Benita Dwyer and Family
Steven Booth
Simone Surgeoner
Alexis Tarran
Tamara Travaglia
Sarah Crompton
Emilie
Jen Atkins
Deanna Gogic
Clel and Kaje Aragona-Murray
Brooke Patel
Melinda Wymen
Annie Joy (my Mummy)
Anabel Bartolo
Shivam Rachana
Ril and Denise
Dayle Walker
Mel Rees
Daisy Mabel
Laura Mascaro
Kylee Baker
Bonita Currie
Querida Seip
Michelle King
Rhonda Bell
Lillian
Rhiannon and Caelan and Aaliyah (my 3 biggest babies!)
Samantha Neilsen
Alicia Davidson
Danny Gibbins


And thats not all the thanks yet!! I have had many donations of clothes, undies, moonpads, stationary, gloves, zip lock bags, just to name a few.

I need to make a special mention to the Sisters of the Southeast who have shown generosity, love and passion as they spent many an hour sewing moonpads for the women Of Cambodia. So, thankyou to Ben & Jo Dechrau, Loz Woods, Kintara Phillips, Sarah Leslie, Sarah McLean, Sazz Langford, Natalie McQueen, Veronica Ingram and Victoria for creating the moonpads with fabric, PUL, snap and cloth donations from Emily of Happy Nappy, Esther from Ferny Hills and Nappies Covered. Mil Islas, Obsidian and Paisley from The Fairy Ring for the donated moonpads. 

If I have missed anyones name, please dont be offended, it is just because I have a long list of names here and my eyes are tired and I'm holding Myah in my arms!


The beautiful Mel Rees of Daisy Mabel had some of her prints for sale which she generously donated 100percent of sales towards getting the Tuk Tuk!


Karla Ding, an old friend from high school who I haven't seen for years was the first one to send in donations! :) 


THANKYOU to Courtney Gale, Lorri Butera Shaw, Fran Newman, Emily, Melinda Wymen, Jane Collings from Moonsong, Jude Dardel-Barker, Jo Van Rossum, Sarah Schortt and Fiona Trapani for all the donations of goods which are now packed into my suitcase ready to give to the people in Cambodia.


And I think the biggest THANKYOU has to go to the 5 little humans in my life who have given me their blessings to go. Caelan, Rhiannon, Aaliyah, Sage and Myah, I love you all, my little inspirations who drive me crazy but have shown me an amazing world. 


And to Steven for suggesting this adventure in the first place and reigniting my heart song once again. 

And a last one to my Mum who said "I will worry my ass off until you get home, but I know you need to do this, so go" 




Thankyou

Target 2000 and beyond!

It is with extreme ecstacy, delight, gratitude and love, I announce that all money donated and pledged so far has not only reached the $2000 target, but has EXCEEDED it!!!

When all monies are in, we are able to purchase a Maternity Tuk Tuk Ambulance for the work of LifeOptions Direct Empowerment, Cambodia & Nepal.

All extra money will be used for petrol, midwives wages, biulding toilets, and many, many other things! Money donations are still encouraged. These people need as much as we can give.

For instance:

$1 will buy a litre of petrol
$45 is what it costs in petrol to transfer a woman to the big hospital in Phnom Penh
$25 will put in a village toilet
$2000 is a Tuk Tuk transfer vehicle
$5 will feed a poor family for a week

I'm not sure what was happening in the stars, but it seems almost unbelievable how the funds came. For 6 weeks I tried my hardest and struggled to reach the target. I had donations of $320 which slowly came over 1 and a half months. I was feeling a little disappointed and a littlle lonely in this adventure. Then one evening, a few nights ago, I recieved an email from a beautiful family whose birth I attended, and they told me they wanted to donate a big chunk of money towards the ambulance. I was ecstatic, reeling in delight, wrapped in gratitude. How generous.

Around this same evening, one of my friends asked how much I had raised so far, and once I told her, she spread the word across Facebook that I need more funds. And then others posted it. And then others posted it. And then others posted it. The following morning I had over 20 emails asking me for details of where they would deposit money. I was so amazed, I almost didn't believe it. I was sitting at the computer screen blurry eyed from mmany tears being shed. My faith in the human spirit was restored.

To date, money donated and pledged so far is $2226. And there is more to come!

Please know that although I have reached the target for the Tuk Tuk, the peoples in Cambodia have so very little. And as I said earlier,  the excess money can go to many, many different things including paying the local midwives, buying petrol for the TUk Tuk so it can actually transfer women to emergency care, supplies for the birth centre and school, building toilets in the village, and the list goes on and on and on and on!

Thankyou so much to those who donated money. I will publicly thank you on here, once I get the long list of names organised and once all the money is in! You all rock, and will have a place in my heart forever and ever and ever. Thankyou for sharing the same dream as me

Xo

An image of the Tuk Tuk carriage style vehicle

I've got your bum covered

Something that shocked and saddened me was the fact the many girls don't go to school when they menstruate as they dont have anything to catch their blood. This can lead to falling behind in education, dropping out of school and continuing the cycle of poverty. How sad to think that if they had some undies and a pad, it would make a difference.

Cambodia is poverty stricken. Bare minimum, and a lot of the time it seems that there is not even that. Denise said something to me which reminded me just how much I take for granted. And how fortunate I am. She said "Yesterday when I sent a new mum and her brand newborn baby home on the back on the motorbike, I dreamed that she had a pair of undies on and a pad between her legs."

Enough said.

So, I've been on a bit of a mission to get some undies and pads for these women.

I have been blessed to be aquainted with some pretty spirited people whose hearts are as passionate as my own.

The beautiful Jo has really gone above and beyond and organised a get together with some other wonderful women and had a craft day sewing cloth menstrual pads. In my mind, I was thinking they may do 40. Maybe 50. Definitely not much more than that! Imagine my surprise and complete excitement when it was announced that they reached the 100 mark!! A few days later, the number kept climbing even further! Once they were done, I got this little message from Jo:

"I'm so proud and ecstatic to announce on behalf of fabric, PUL, snap and cloth donations from Emily of Happy Nappy, Esther from Ferny Hills, Sarah MaClean, Sarah Leslie, Natalie McQueen AND the time and skill donations of seamstresses Loz Woods, Veronica INgram, Kintara Phillips, Victoria, Leah Timms, Ben Dechrau and Myself (Jo Dechrau) - we created together 155 cloth menstrual pads." 


So many cloth pads were created with the hands of hearts of these beautiful people! Hours and hours of crafting these beautiful bits of material for the women of Cambodia. I feel like I am bursting with pride!

Mil Islas, Paisley Ring (people who I don't even know, but are sharing their time and heart for this!!) and Sazz Langford also got their hands and hearts busy and sent me some of their own cloth menstrual pads.

In total I now have almost 200 cloth menstrual pads to take over to Cambodia!

Here are some photo's of what can be done when you put your passion to a sewing machine!

Look at all these pads in the making! Following 3 photos are from Jo. You can look at her blog HERE

 

Goddesses At Work!

155 pads!!

On Saturday, a work colleague of mine, who is going to Cambodia today (!!) to volunteer with LifeOptions came and picked up 100 of these babies to pack as she had some room in her lugguge! Those cloth pads will be flying to Cambodia right now as I type!

Also, I've been asking everyone for undies. They have been arriving slowly but surely in the post. Today my 2 year old and I counted them all. After counting it 3 times, (my 2 year old kept confusing me lol), I have had 141 pairs of undies donated to me to take over. How amazing is that!?!?! All those women whose life will be changed because they now own a pair of undies! I am still accepting donations up until around 15th June, so keep sending them in! I've got 27kgs of lugguge and i plan to use it!

These 80 pairs of undies were donated by one person!! Thankyou Sarah Shortt

Thankyou to those who are generous. Thankyou to those whose spirits sing to the same tune as mine. Thankyou to those whose heart is in the same place as mine.

So, women of Cambodia, it's not long now. I've got your bum covered!

Week of Wonder

There has been wonderful generosity shown state wide in the last week towards my volunteering adventures in Cambodia. I have a box of stationary - pens, paper, pencils, textas, amoungst other goodies that was donated by a friend who is off on an adventure of her own to an orphanage in Bali. She got more boxes of stationary donated than she could take over, so she passed one on to me to take.

I've had undies in the postbox from people I know and people I dont know, both from victoria and from interstate. Zip lock bags, gloves, bandages. 2nd hand kids clothes. It is piling up and looking fantastic!

Donations of money have been put into an account with the hope of reaching $2000 so that we can fund a Tuk Tuk Ambulance for the women and babies in desperate need of medical assistance. I love recieving emails which say 'I want to donate!'. It makes my heart sing. Every dollar helps and changes lives of women, families, villages, communities.

Courtney has made jars of delicious tomato relish and nectarine & ginger jam and has donated them to me to sell with all money going straight towards the ambulance. Steven bought the first jar, as he is a bit of a relish fan, and I am guessing he will buy one or two more too. He may end up funding half the Tuk Tuk if he keeps eating all the relish ;) Books have been donated and chillies have been picked from my garden and bunched up to sell. As I have already said, every little bit helps.

On Saturday 2 really awesome events occured in honour of the volunteering work I am doing and the peoples in Takeo. Firstly, we screened a documentary called Babies, which was a gorgeous little film that followed 4 babies from birth across the first year of their lives. There weren't many attendees, there were around 8-10 of us, but those who came loved the film, loved the atmosphere, loved the cause and we raised $120. Thank you to those who came - your support fills my heart and Im sure the hearts of women in Cambodia!

Secondly, a group of gorgeous women (and 1 spunky man I believe, plus a tribe of children) who hold the same passionate heart as my own, created a day of sewing and made many, many menstrual cloth pads for me to take over. Women in Cambodia often dont attend school when they are bleeding as they dont have anything to catch their blood. This in turn leads them to fall behind in their studies, dropping out of school and thus continuing the cycle of poverty. Cloth pads can obviously help this situation. Who ever would of thought that cloth pads can be an essential part in ending poverty!?! Anyway, this amazing feat deserves a blog post of its own, so for now I shall leave you  with a picture of what these people of spirit created!

Peace, Love and Passion!

Xo

changing plans

Amazing how a week can change things so much.

Courtney and her daughters are no longer coming. It is not the right time for them. We had a chat about going together at a different time, early next year. I sat with that idea for awhile. It felt warped and twisted and didn't sit easily with me.

I laughed and cried and yelled. I felt sad at the thought of Courtney not coming with me and I know she feels the same way too. We cry for the journey we have lost together. But we also know that we have a long life together ahead of us and we can journey together another time.

As for me, my heart can't wait. It is burning out of my chest, the timing is now, I have to go now. Recognising and responding to the call of your spirit is wild and authentic - and the best way to live by.

So Myah and I will still be going. Journeying across the waters to support sisters who need it.

I need your help to fundraise. I want to get $2000 which will buy a Tuk Tuk Ambulance for the villages I will be at. It will help transport women and bubbas who urgently need care and will save lives.

If you could help with donations, please email me at sheree@birthsong.com.au
I am also holding fundraisers during the month of May and June so if you are interested, please drop me a line and I can give you more info :)

Here is a picture of the tuk tuk ambulance that I want to raise enough money for. Help out your sisters across the water and donate to help save liives of Mummas and babies

Give us your undies!

After the absolutely horrific genocide in the late 1970's - 1980's, the gentle people of Cambodia are striving to regain their community, peace, health and education.  Many of the skilled birth attendants were killed in the genocide and I am not exactly sure what sort of care a women now recieves who is pregnant or labouring.


Poverty is  also a massive issue in Cambodia. Living on next to nothing per day is the pits and seeing humans living in such conditions is heartbreaking and soul shattering. If you are female, it seems to isolate and restrict you even further in the world you live in.

From what I know, many of the girls stop attending school during the time they menstruate, simply because when they bleed they don't have sanitary items, so choose to stay home for this time. This of course makes them fall behind in their studies, with a high possibility of them dropping out of education. Thus continuing the cycle of poverty.

A VERY SIMPLE and life altering donation suggestion from Life Options Inc. has been that we donate underwear! New, cotton undies, from sizes 8 - 12 in adults and all kids sizes.  Giving underwear seems almost silly in our western culture of abundance and overconsumersim, but for many women, giving them a new, clean pair of underwear will make a difference on whether or not they get an education and break the cycle of poverty. 


Cloth pads are also massively useful. If you are able to donate some cloth pads, whether you sew or buy them, we promise you that the women of Cambodia will enormously appreciate it! We have started a facebook group for this, so if you want more details please click HERE and it will give you info and details on what to do, how to make them and where to send them to :) I just want to say a big thankyou to some women who have taken this mission on with a passion and are organising cloth pad sewing sessions as I type! - so thankyou to Jo, Sazz, Sarah, Kint and Loz! I know there is many more, and you will all get a public declaration of our love as well, once you send us the goods!! ;)


It is amazing that what we take for granted and what we think is 'just the basics' is something that many women around the world don't have. To be honest, I have NEVER linked underwear and education together until a couple weeks ago. To realise that young women wont go to get an education if they dont have underwear to wear when they menstruate and thus continuing the cycle of poverty breaks my heart. We can do something about this. And we can do it right now. 


Send us some undies!


New, cotton undies, size 6 -12 adult and any kids sizes. The Cambodian girls and women arent fussy and will take any color or prints! If you are interested in doing so, drop me an email and i can give you an address for one of the few drop off points around Melbourne that you can take them too. Alternatively, you can post them to us as well. Just give us an email!
Xo

Also, I just wanted tos hare a quick little story about underwear. When I went to my favourtie cafe the other day, I had let people know I would be there, so if they wanted to drop off donations for the trip then they would know where to drop them off. I was wondering around with my daughters, over near the sandpit, going to get a seat, when I heard a beautiful friend yell out "Hey, Sheree, I have some undies for you!" I was very excited about it and I know I made heads turn as Georgia pulled out 3 packets of cotton undies from her bag and handed them to me. My face lit up with excitement as I exclaimed at how excited I was to be getting undies from her :) I put them in my bag and told her how I was so thrilled to be given underwear, in a cafe midmorning on a wednesday :) So, it is all beautiful sisters! Let's help our Cambodian sister out by giving thems some undies and breaking the cycle of poverty and strengthening the bond of sisterhood, community and civilisation on a whole 


Xo

The end is the beginning is the end

The year 2011 has been a strange one. One of ups and down, ups and downs and ups and downs again. Ecstatic highs, desperate lows and everything in between.

Although it wasn't really, but it felt like it was, Sheree's  really awesome and amazing man, Steven, suggested she contact Denise Love about going to Cambodia.

Steven had mentioned it before during the year and I had always brushed it off, but this time when he said it, it made my heart sing. It felt perfect. I sent Denise a short and sweet email that went something like 'Hi Denise, I want to Cambodia very soon. Is it safe?  Can my baby come? She has attended births and usually lives in a sling on me anyway'. And I pressed send. And waited. She replied half an hour later with an 'oh yes, yes, yes' and I knew that was it. Screw the logistics. It will all work. My heart was on fire, it was so bright and full. Myah and I are going to Cambodia for a month, in about a month!

I am a Mumma to 5 awesome, wild, freespirited children and Steven will be staying at home with 4 of them. He is a loving, capable father and husband and is very excited about his adventures as stay at home Dad (He has been the stay at home Dad for longer than I have been the stay at home Mum). My baby who is 6 months will be travelling with me on the plane across the water to live and learn amongst the gentle peoples of Cambodia.

I let the people closest to me know of my sudden decision and although some of them reacted very differently to how I was hoping, the majority of people have been so loving, supportive and generous. So loving, supportive and generous in fact, that one of my closest sister women, Courtney, has decided to come with me, along with her 2 young daughters! I was in the cyber world on Facebook when a little message that said 'my partner said I can come to Cambodia!!!!' popped up on the screen, and all I could reply was 'really, are you really coming, is that real, is that really real, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow'.  And so we are going together! Team Smart! (We are called Team Smart because Courtney and I have attended births together and run workshops together and when I told this to my children, one of them said 'Youse should be called Team Smart! And we agree!)

I think Courtney and I first met Denise Love at the same time, which was one week after I had just done an amaaaazing bike ride across Ethiopia to raise money for a hospital and women's cliniic in the Ethiopian Highlands. I went to do a Hypnochildbirth course and Denise was teaching it and I fell in love with her straight away. She was very down to earth, passionate and had the belief that we all have the right to live our lives as we choose, with love, happiness and respect. I knew in my heart that we would journey together one day - and now we will be! Denise is the one who has set up LifeOptions Inc. and has initiated some amazing work and healthcare for the people in Cambodia.

When Courtney and I go there, we are going to live and work in villages in developing countries to share skills, learn new ones, and develop an environment for a healthy sustainable life style. I am a registered midwife and doula and Courtney is a doula so there is plenty for us to share and do there. There is a birth centre, a school, many orphans and many families that will benefit from us going, and for us - it will give us a whole new perspective on life as we get to spend and share some of our life with them. They will change our lives forever.

Stay tuned for our post about what we are doing to fundraise before we go and how you can help us!!

In the meantime, we have events of facebook here, here and here if you are keen to see what we are doing!

Xo