Birth Photos from Around the World

I came across this photo slide show of birth in several places around the world recently on the New York Times web page. It has some beautiful and amazing photos! There is also an article from the photographer with more information about the photos that you can read here. 

International Women's Day

It is that time of year once again, where where we celebrate and recognize women around the world! This year the theme from the United Nations is,  “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women.” One of the ways the day is being celebrated is through the release of a new song. In the song, 25 singers and musicians from over 20 countries come together in a unified voice. You can listen to it here:

One of my favorite books about women is Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. This fabulous book tells the story of several women around the world facing struggles and how they are turned into opportunities. For example there is a Cambodian teenager who is trapped in sex slavery who escapes and becomes a business owner, which supported family. Or there is the Ethiopian woman who struggles with devastating injuries during childbirth who goes on to become a surgeon. It is a great read -- informative and challenging!

Violence against Women in Indonesia

This post is a follow-up to the V-Day: One Million Rising post from a couple of weeks ago. In that post, I talked a bit about violence against women and how I have become more familiar with the topic. I mentioned that there are a number of ways women experience violence, one of which is rape.

There was a recent editorial written in the Jakarta Post Newspaper by an American woman living in Indonesia. She was highlighting several recent incidents in Indonesia that had happened to young women (really just girls) living there.

• First, was an 11-year-old from a family of Jakarta whose father confessed to raping her. She was found to have the same sexually transmitted disease as her father. The girl passed away from an inflammation of the brain.

• Second came the report of a 13-year-old who had been married to a 39-year-old in a Balinese Hindu ceremony. She became pregnant but the baby was born premature and died. 

• Then there was an incident in the fall of last year where Facebook was used to lure a 14-year-old. She was gang-raped and they planned to traffic her but due to media attention she was released. You can read more of the story here. 

Incidents like this occur across Indonesia on a regular basis. They happen across islands and people groups. One of the biggest risk factor is poverty. For some poverty drives families to marry off their young daughters. Sometimes they are sent away to work where they are risk for human trafficking and abuse. Others are lured by promises of cell phones, new clothes, or fees for school into a trap.

I recently came across this video on YouTube which highlights the risk young women are at and simple interventions that can help save them. I thought it was worth sharing...

V-Day: One Billion Rising

Did you know that 1 in 3 women will experience violence in their lifetime? That means over 1 billion women will be impacted by violence. That statistic shocks me but does not surprise me.

I remember when I first visited Indonesia in 2000 and I went on a village health day trip. While were were there doing prenatal care, giving immunizations to the kids etc and a young woman was brought to us. She had wounds around her wrists and ankles. She was catatonic - awake but unresponsive to us and the world around us. We were asked to bring her back to the hospital and see if we could help her. I didn't really understand what was going on until it was explained to me. The young woman had gone to work as a house maid in neighboring Malaysia. While there she had been kept captive and abused. That was really the first time I heard about human trafficking. Since then I have become much more familiar with violence against women, whether that is human trafficking, rape, domestic abuse etc.

For the last 15 years Valentine's Day has also been called V-Day. V-Day's mission is simple. It demands that violence against women and girls must end. So today, February 14th, 2013, V-Day's 15th Anniversary, they are inviting one billion women and those who love them to walk out, DANCE, RISE UP, AND DEMAND an end to this violence. They are events happening around the world in person and throughout social media like Facebook and Twitter. You can find a lot more information here. You can also watch this YouTube video. 

Birth Traditions

One of the interesting facts about pregnancy and birth are the traditions and beliefs regarding it. Some might call them lore or old wives tales or witchcraft. All cultures have them about all sorts of things but pregnancy and birth have some of the most fascinating, at least to this midwife. For example, how do you tell if you are having a boy or girl without an ultrasound or waiting until the baby is born. Some will say it is based on what part of the day the baby is active or how they lie in the uterus or possible what way a necklace swings when it is held over the stomach of a pregnant woman. Just Google it sometime for a little fun (and funny) reading.

Indonesian culture because it is made up of so many people groups has many different traditions and beliefs related to pregnancy and birth. Here is a story that a missionary serving in West Kalimantan shared recently in one of her blog posts about how the spirits have given instructions to the tribal people they work with about birth. 

Another aspect of the culture I’ve been trying to go a bit deeper in is the spiritual belief system.  There are so many different spirits/ghosts beings that they mostly fear but often call on for help, healing, wisdom, and protection.  One in particular is a spirit that the stories claim, taught them how woman have babies.   Supposedly way back when, when a woman was pregnant and about time to have the baby, they would cut the stomach open to “get the baby out” and then both mother and baby would die.  Well a ghost put a man in a type of trance by a certain tree and told a story of how it should be done - with people pushing from the top and sides and letting the baby come out naturally.  Well when the time came for that man’s wife to give birth that is exactly what he did.  And to his great surprise it worked and was then the new way to deliver babies.  This is still the traditional way they deliver, with people pushing from the top and sides during delivery.  

Andrea Ullum

New Tribes Mission 

http://www.ullumhome.com/

I can just hear the gasps from my midwife and OB friends after reading this, but it is better than how they did it in the past :) I know there will be beliefs and traditions that I will find fascinating about birth in Indonesia and probably ones I find scary too.

National Health Day in Indonesia

Did you know that 134,000 kids under that age of 5 die each year in Indonesia? That means a child dies about every four minutes, many from preventable causes. For me, the picture above represents that statistic in a very personal way. She is Katarina. She was a patient at Bethesda during the summer of 2006. She had tuberculosis (TB) and other problems. We tried for several weeks to save her life. We inserted a feeding tube and gave her medication for the TB. In the end though, she passed away. There are almost always kids like Katarina being cared for at Bethesda. Being a child under five is hard in Indonesia, especially in the rural areas as the statistic above shows.

Today, November 18th, is National Health Day in Indonesia. This year the government is using the day to promote the health of women and children across the country. They are partnering with organizations like World Vision and other NGOs to try to reach the Millennium Development Goals and save the lives of moms and kids around the country.

Birth Story from West Kalimantan

This is a birth story from West Kalimantan, where I will be serving. A big thank you to Nicky Poarch, who serves with New Tribes Mission who shared this story with me and now you!  

I knew that Biet's mom was going to give birth any day.  I have become close with her three daughters and little by little have been building a relationship with their parents.  Her husband is one of the head shaman in the village, holding close to the animistic ways and making sure these ways are followed especially in their home.  Over the course of Biet's mom's pregnancy, I had bought her some prenatal vitamins, taken her blood pressure, and visited with her.  

Finally the night came when she started her labor pains.  A friend came and told me.  A big dilemma went on in my mind...should I go, should I stay (I'm easily grossed out!)?  Finally, I decided to go.  When I got there, I was surprised at how many people were in the home, in her room, giving her advice, rubbing her feet, rubbing her back, making sure incense was burning, and finally...feeding her a bit of porridge (they say) to help her have strength.  After an hour of sitting there sharing birth stories with the other ladies in the room, Biet's mom's water broke.  After this happened....everything changed!

People started yelling - "OPEN ALL THE DOORS, PULL OUT THE NAIL OUT OF THE DOORWAY!"  They were walking quickly back and forth in front of the room where her Biet's mom was starting serious labor.  They started chanting.  The old lady next to me told me to take the batteries out of the lantern and put them back in.  I knew what she asked me to do and I knew the reason why, but I just acted like I was involved in seeing the birth...

Opening up all the doors, taking out the batteries in the lantern, pulling out the nail in the top of the doorway assures a smooth birth and the child wouldn't tarry in coming out.  Chanting is a way of asking or summoning the spirits.  

The final act was when the mother in law came and broke a glass jar right in front of Biet's mom!  CRASH!  I knew this was also an act done to appease the spirits.  

Finally the baby was born.  Another girl for the family!

If you weren't there praying for me...

were the words I was greeted with when I went back to visit Biet's mom and her newborn daughter.  I discovered then that Biet's mom had a hard time delivering the afterbirth.  I had left the house the night of the birth, soon after the baby was born, I had already been there for three hours.  Before I left I had told several people that the reason I wanted to see the birth was so that I could pray the whole time.  I also told them that I'd continue to pray after I went home (I was leaving early according to them, but I was tired).  

After I left that night, trouble started with not being able to deliver the afterbirth.  They even started down river (in the middle of  the night) afraid Biet's mom would bleed to death.  But almost immediately after getting in the boat, she passed the afterbirth and was able return to her home.  

When I went the following day to visit, she told me that she knew because I prayed that she was alive and the baby too.