28th December 2005
URGENT HELP NEEDED IN ACEH, INDONESIA!
Hi - I'm
Tania Berlow, a US-qualified midwife from Bridport in Dorset (UK).
30% of traditional midwives in Aceh, Indonesia died in the Tsunami of December 2004 and the vast majority of their medical equipment got washed away.
In addition, there is currently a baby boom in Aceh, as a natural response to the loss of so many children.
The Aceh area therefore desperately needs midwives and equipment, so
I have decided to go out there to work as a volunteer midwife with Robin Lim,
who runs a birthing clinic in Aceh - the hardest-hit area.
Click here to read more about the project.
Robin is better known in the USA as the author of After the Birth - a Woman's Way to Wellness and she has been in Bali, Indonesia for many years.
A year ago today, midwives from the clinic in Bali, which is called
Bumi Sehat, flew out urgently to
Aceh, Indonesia,
to provide help and support for mothers disastrously hit by the Tsunami.
These midwives have been working in Aceh ever since.
They have moved from a tent to a makeshift hut, but conditions are still very primitive and the population still intensely traumatised.
Tetanus is rapidly killing babies in Aceh, simply for lack of clean equipment and water and, as ever, women's needs seem to be last on the agenda.
Please consider donating to the Aceh Midwife Fund
click below to donate via PayPal (acehmidwifefund@hotmail.com)
or send cheques to:
Aceh Midwife Fund, 1 Marsh Dairy Cottage, Mapperton, Dorset, DT8 3NP, UK
(please make cheques payable to 'Aceh Midwife Fund')
or you can make a payment directly to the Fund bank account:
Account name: Aceh Midwife Fund
Bank: LLoyds TSB - Branch: Bridport, Dorset - Sort code: 30-91-21
I am at present in the process of raising funds to fly out to Aceh and also - more importantly - to start a fund so that other midwives and practitioners from the UK can go to Aceh to help.
I plan on being there only 6 weeks but it is currently a 5 year project and I would like to go annually.
A good friend - and midwife colleague - of mine is in Aceh, which is how I came to be invited to join them.
She said they need people to get out to Aceh ASAP and bring equipment such as gloves and fetascopes and - most vitally - syntocinon
if you are a midwife, nurse of holistic practitioner and can spare at least 6 weeks in Aceh, please contact me by email:
I am leaving for Aceh in the middle of March 2006 and need to raise at least £3000.
When that sum has been raised, all further donations will go towards the continuing work of the
Aceh Midwife Fund - and are vitally needed.
Thanks in advance for your much-needed help!
Tania Berlow
Aceh Midwife Fund
1 Marsh Dairy Cottage, Mapperton, Dorset, DT8 3NP, UK
Aceh Midwife Fund
Important Links
Article written by Tania about the Aceh Midwife Fund for Practising Midwife magazine
in
Microsoft Word format or
as web page
Bumi Sehat
A not for profit organization of committed families, teachers, midwives, doctors, nurses and caring citizens from many countries.
Bumi Sehat campaign for the reproductive rights of displaced, marginalised, low-income women of all cultures and their children.
Robin Lim
Robin Lim has a birthing clinic in Ubud, Bali, where she delivers babies and cares for mothers using modern medical practices, whilst honouring ancient cultural traditions.
When the Tsunami hit in the far western provinces of Indonesia, Robin was able to respond more quickly and efficiently than large non-governmental organizations.
She set up a clinic in Aceh, Indonesia - the hardest-hit area - which is still running today, after many other organizations have left.
more >>
Aceh Birth Clinic - latest news
Article from The Scotsman, December 2005:
'Baby boom is symbol of hope in Aceh'
Yayasan IDEP Foundation
Yayasan IDEP is an Indonesian non-profit foundation.
IDEP's objective was to respond to urgent needs for sustainable food production and resource management, whilst conveying the importance of environmental education for sustainable living.
This page talks about their support for Bumi Sehat.
The Association of Radical Midwives
The ARM are committed to improving the maternity care provided by the NHS.
"We strongly believe that all women have the right to a service tailored more closely to their needs, and a sympathetic attitude on the part of their professional attendants."
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The Aceh Midwife Fund project
My daughter's Godmother, Rowena Harvest, with whom I trained in Texas, is currently helping run Robin Lim's Balinese birth centre Bumi Sehat (which means Healthy Mother Earth) and is herself an important team member for the Aceh Bumi Sehat clinic.
The Bali clinic is about an hour's flight from Aceh.
She asked me to come and help and passed my information onto Robin Lim - who is the founder of both the Bali clinic and the Aceh clinic - and is currently rather uncontactable in Aceh.
The Aceh clinic functions as a holistic practitioner clinic and has homeopathy, aromatherapy and massage practitioners also volunteering. The clinic recently moved from a tent to a building (see photo on this page) and is itself independent from any government organisations although it is linked to one NGO.
Most of the local population is living in refugee camps.
The local religion is Islam and the women are reluctant to seek aid from male relief workers.
This issue is compounded by the fact that 80% of the people who died in the Tsunami were women and children. For the remaining women, many of them lost husbands and fathers and will not venture outside to seek aid.
Due to the huge loss of women's and children's lives there is also a disproportionate homeless and traumatised male population, which makes venturing out of the safety of the compounds an issue for unaccompanied women
Fortunately, I have been told that, as midwives and relief workers, we are given much respect in the area and helped by all.
The local hospital is 40 miles away (when the road has not been washed out by the monsoons) and the UN refugee camp (which is an hour away) has internet access and telephone contact for aid workers in the area. Malaria is rife as are many other diseases of poverty and disaster. The clinic serves as a referral point for the hospital for other medical needs which are not midwifery related.
I suspect I will learn how to diagnose malaria, sew up gaping wounds and treat festering ones, as well as judiciously using antibiotics.
Due to the intensity of working with highly traumatised women, stints in Aceh are for a month with plenty of briefing and debriefing on each end.
There is a real need for more volunteers - not just midwives but also alternative practitioners - so if you think you have 6 weeks to spare and live in the UK, please contact me.
If you live overseas, please contact Robin.
I am trying to raise £3000 in the immediate future but hope to keep the fund open so that more midwives can be sent to Aceh to help Bumi Sehat.
< close this box about the Aceh Midwife Fund >
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Tania Berlow
I was born in Scotland in 1968 and spent 6 years living in the USA where I trained and qualified as a holistic midwife.
I returned to England for the birth of my daughter and am not qualified to practise as a midwife in the United Kingdom.
Instead I home educate my 7 year old and volunteer as a steering group member for
ARM (The Association of Radical Midwives)
I am also currently helping to organise a 'Festival Yurt' which will provide a safe informative space for women at numerous events during the English summertime
Lastly, I am waiting to find out if I may, according to the international definition of a midwife, become an ARM alternate delegate for the International Confederation of Midwives.
As I am not qualified to practise midwifery in the country in which I live, this could be an issue!
< close this box about Tania Berlow >
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Robin Lim - A focus on gentle birth, modern cleanliness, and respect for traditions
Robin Lim is a long-time midwife who specialises in an extremely gentle birth process.
In many areas of Indonesia, gentle birth is essentially unknown.
Even recently, hospital protocols include stitching women after childbirth without anesthetic and the reuse of hypodermic needles.
Hospital costs are so high compared to the normal income that families often lose their small rice plots to pay their hospital bills.
If a family cannot pay their hospital bill they cannot take their baby home from the hospital.
Local midwives also use less than optimal methods.
In addition to the lack of a clean birthing environment and invasive procedures, breast feeding is not supported and questionable population control methods (IUD, contraceptive implant, etc) are enforced.
Robin Lim and her Foundation provide gentle and culturally sensitive birth at home or at her clinic, breast feeding support, and family choice family planning.
She provides prenatal care and education, prenatal vitamins, labour support, delivery, and post partum care.
Robin is training Indonesian midwives in gentle birth protocols and how to prevent the spread of disease, including universal AIDS prevention.
Robin has been successful in changing protocols in the local hospital.
They have now stopped reusing needles.
If she transports a labouring mother to the hospital, she goes with the mother and educates the doctors and staff on how to treat her.
Robin is able to be creative and flexible according to the needs of the time.
Most importantly, Robin Lim trains village midwives in modern practices, whilst respecting their ancient traditions.
Recently, she has begun to teach midwives how to burn the umbilical cord, rather than cutting it, in order to prevent infection in less than sterile environments.
This oddly beautiful practice is a gift from Chinese medicine.
It is both soothing to the baby (who usually falls asleep during the procedure) and completely safe and sterile.
In addition, Robin functions as a country doctor.
Her clinic treats amoebic dysentery, serious hand cuts from local wood carvers, rampant TB, and much more.
Robin Lim's Foundation is located in a family compound in Bali.
It consists of a large house on bamboo poles in the traditional Balinese architecture, and a two room cinder block clinic.
Volunteers come from all over the globe - gynæcologists, nurses, midwives, young people seeking positive direction in life, and an occasional tourist or friend.
You are welcome to visit and lend a hand.
In fact, she has a wish list on her
website for things you could bring with you.
< close this box about Robin Lim >
