Well here is yet another Mother's Day, my Mother's 56th, my 39th. Both my mother and I have been blessed to have reasonably healthy pregnancies and children. We gave birth in sterile hospital conditions, with doctors and midwifes present. Two of my daughters have also become mothers under these 'first world' conditions.
We choose to vaccinate against childhood diseases and it costs us nothing, so we don't have to worry about what are common childhood illness in 'third world' countries. With the birth of our recent grand-daughter, we have been given boosters of the whooping cough vaccine at no cost (parents and grandparents), as whooping cough is back on the rise in Australia and is threatening babies lives.
But I, along with probably many other mothers, have taken it for granted that things like tetanus and diphtheria are no longer a threat here in the wonderful land of Aus and I must admit I haven't thought about the wider world where it seems these diseases are still a very real threat.
So on Thursday night I was grumpily moaning to hubby about the fact that my hairdresser of 9 years had sold her business and I would have to find a new one, when I was smacked in the face by the Universe. I very rarely watch Channel Ten's The Project, but I happened to flick over just before it finished and heard about Carrie Bickmore becoming an ambassador for the UNICEF The Eliminate Project.
Did you know that up to 60,000 babies die each year from maternal and neonatal tetanus, newborn babies, babies born in less than sterile conditions, and that their mothers have to watch them die a painful and horrible death. That's one baby dying this way every 9 minutes. That stunned me and gave me the wake-up call I truly deserved.
Did you know that for 60c an injection, mothers can be immunised and pass the immunity onto their unborn children. Did you know that for every $2 you donate you can help a mother get the 3 injections she needs to be fully immunised.
Did you know that The Eliminate Project has been running since 2010 and that between 2000 and 2011 21 countries have eliminated MNT!!
They are aiming at 100 million mothers now and they need our help. They need to raise US$110 million to achieve this. That with our help they can rid the world of MNT by 2015.
So on Mother's Day I appeal to you all to do just that, to HELP.
In honour of my children and my beautiful grand-daughters I have donated $300.00 to the cause. But even if you can give as little as $2, you will be helping keep the mothers and babies of countries less fortunate than ours stay safe. It seems so little to give. I spent more than that on my Mother's Mothers Day card, what about you?
Please take a moment to consider donating, to consider spreading the word.
Thanks, and a Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there in the blogosphere. xxx
Frightening isn't it? The one that made me realise just how lucky we are was having it pointed out that we flush our toilets with water that is safe to drink - and that many, many families die because they don't have access to clean drinking water. So, I donate to CARE and to Oxfam, because they work in conjunction with the people they are helping. Also to Mediciens san Frontiers who are everywhere providing much needed medical care.
ReplyDeleteAnd a happy Mother's Day to you and yours.
@the elephants child - I know, we are so blessed to have been born here. I too regularly donate to Oxfam (buying goats and the like as presents for my family), the Salvos and Red Cross are also high on my regular donation list. But I think what hit me here is the fact that this is a disease I thought little about, I know I have had tetanus boosters when treading on an earring, but I had no idea that it could be past through the umbilical cord by using an unsterlised knife, or just by giving birth on the ground, as is often the case in the countries where this disease is rife. Talk about having my blinkers on in my 'first world' life.
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