Safe Mothers, Safe Babies 2011 Gift Catalog

Gift of Life

Safe Mothers, Safe Babies Holiday Gift Catalog

About Safe Mothers, Safe Babies

Photo credit: Katherine Meese

Every year, more than 360,000 women and 3,000,000 babies die during childbirth, while millions more are injured. The causes of maternal and neonatal death are largely preventable if women can access timely and appropriate medical care. Yet, in developing countries like Uganda, such care is lacking. Safe Mothers, Safe Babies (SAFE) seeks to improve these conditions through demand-driven, collaborative, sustainable, and scalable means. We operate on a methodology of “participatory development” in which we work with those we serve, instead of for them, to define maternal and child health in local terms, prioritize local barriers to maternal and child health, and devise locally-sustainable solutions to implement together.

The Safe Mothers, Safe Babies Holiday Gift Catalog, Gift of Life, provides an opportunity for individuals to join SAFE in working with rural Ugandan women and their families to give the “gift of life,” while simultaneously checking some holiday shopping purchases off the to-do list. For each purchase, you can designate an individual who the gift has been purchased to honor. SAFE will then send them a personalized thank you card, detailing the life-saving gift you made on their behalf and all that it will accomplish.

Public Health Outreach Community health fairs provide immunizations and medications to women and children for free.

Selling subsidized mosquito nets reduces malaria. Reproductive health education through the songs and dramas of women’s groups educates villagers in culturally sensitive ways. Our goal in December is to reach at least 2,000 women and children through these and other public health outreach projects.

Mosquito net—$6

Fortified peanut butter program (200 children)—$300

Safe motherhood home visitation program, training for women’s groups (100 women)—$60

Immunization outreach (500-700 people)—$120

Supporting Women’s Groups The women of Kalalu Women’s Voice work with SAFE to educate rural villagers about reproductive health. They embed education we provide into drama and song, then perform in their communities. This education is more effective than if we were to do it ourselves, and is more culturally appropriate. We currently work with 4 women’s groups, all of which support themselves through community gardens. We support these endeavors through the provision of training, materials, and animals.

Chickens: Hen—$8; Rooster—$12

Safe motherhood training sessions—$50/ea.

Dairy heifer—$400

Community gardens support reproductive health outreach (cost of seeds, training, and supplies)—$400/field

Supporting Health Providers Meet the only health professionals at Bukoteka Health Center II. Bukoteka is a very small, 2-room building, and its funding agency hasn’t paid the staff since January. They are almost completely out of the most basic supplies… yet, when asked if they would seek employment elsewhere, the doctor responded “No. We will stay. The people here need us, we have become volunteers.” To help them, we will provide them with supplies, animals, and farming materials to contribute to improving care and supporting their livelihoods.

Basic medical supplies—$50

Milk-producing goat—$200

Training session—$60

Organic farming 1 field: Seeds—$120; Supplies—$200

Light the Night—Solar Power and Maternal Health Can you imagine giving birth to a baby, or worse having a cesarean section, in pitch black? When your doctor or midwife couldn’t see to deliver your baby? Lack of electricity is a key barrier to the provision of quality obstetric care, and is moreover a reason that some Ugandan women choose not to deliver their babies in health centers. Safe Mothers, Safe Babies is working with Humless, Inc. to bring solar power to rural Ugandan health centers and hospitals.

LED light with Tripod or Gorilla Stand—$75

Hand crank (to make system work without sun)—$150

100W Solar Panel—$400

Humless Road Runner Unit (w/panel)—$700

Hand-Made Paper Beads SAFE imports hand-made paper beads after purchasing them from the civil society organizations with which we partner. The beads are made from scraps of magazine and newspaper that are rolled on a tube and solidified with a hardening agent. The women use the proceeds to support themselves, and undertake community projects, which to date have included community gardens and a widow support program. Strands are multi-colored, and generally match almost any outfit; 100% of the profits support their makers.

You will receive your multi-colored strand(s) of beads in the mail in 7 to 10 business

Multi-colored strand of paper beads— $15 (inc. shipping)

Item Mosquito net Chickens and roosters

Basic medical supplies

People Affected

Cost

3—5

$6

1 family

Hen: $8 Rooster: $12

100

$50

30—50 women

$50

Safe motherhood home visitation program

100 women

$60

LED light w/stand for solar unit

500—1000 people/year

$75

500-700

$120

30—50 women and their families

Seeds: $120

Safe motherhood training

Immunization outreach Organic farming

Hand crank (to make system work without sun)

Supplies: $200

100—200 people/year

$150

20—30 women and their families

$200

200

$300

30—50 women and their families

$400

300 — 400

$400

100 W solar panel

500—1000 people/year

$400

Humless road runner unit (w/solar panel)

500—1000 people/year

$700

Milk-producing goat Fortified peanut butter program Dairy heifer Community gardens

Number Hens: Roosters:

Seed: Supplies:

Total

Multi-colored Ugandan Paper Beads Order Form Number of Strands

Name and address where strands should be sent

Name and address where “honor cards� should be sent: Name: Address:

Return these order forms along with cash, check, or money order (payable to Safe Mothers, Safe Babies) to: PO Box 2205 Provo, UT 84606

For more information about Safe Mothers, Safe Babies...

Safe Mothers, Safe Babies seeks to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths and injuries in the developing world through demand-driven, collaborative, sustainable, and scalable means. We operate on a methodology of “participatory development,” which means that we work with the people we serve instead of for them. We work together to define maternal and child health in local terms, identify and prioritize local barriers to good maternal and child health—both structural and cultural—and finally devise locally-appropriate, community sustainable solutions that we implement together. We aim to transition all projects to full community control (administrative and financial) within 3 years of their start date. By making local citizens the key driving agents of change, our projects are sustainable, empowering, impactful, and transformative!

If you are interested in volunteering with SAFE or want more information about what we do, why we do it, or how we do it, please contact us: Website: www.safemotherssafebabies.org Blog: safemotherssafebabies.blogspot.com Email: info@safemotherssafebabies.org Mailing Address: Box 2205 Provo, UT 84603 Phone: (801) 428-7827