Blast from the Past

You know when you decide to do some spring cleaning and before you know it you're deep in yesteryear, smiling over some things, scowling at others (how did I ever think that colour suited me?!?) ... well, that happens to me all the time with my writing and I've been doing a cleanup, getting my Doula Program running better (now that it's virtual I have more to play with but less at the same time...).

Anyway one of my most amazing yesteryear memories was the 13 years (2003-2016) that I was honoured to lead the Montreal Birth Companions. If you read StarHawk's Truth or Dare, you will realize why an anarchist such as myself made structural errors in designing an organization, so that when a seismic event like a sexual assault or even a power struggle hit the structure, it crumbled. People don't do well with anarchy in action, and so my beloved MBC died a natural death. BUT when she was alive, she was powerful, strong, and the MBC doulas literally changed so many women's lives with their kindness, skill, love, and caring.

So, here's a trip down memory lane. 

And if you're in the mood, give me a shout and we can start her up again! There are always, always women in need who cannot afford to pay for a doula. This blog post is from 2013:

provides free doula services, prenatal and postpartum support, and resources for refugee, non-status, and other marginalized women in Montreal.

We are in need of birth companions ... please contact me if you are willing and able to devote some time to our worthy cause.
If you are a doula and you can donate one birth every six months to MBC, we would be happy to have you on board!
We are looking especially for birth companions who are fluent in different languages. We would love to have more doulas from our diverse Montreal communities. We welcome everyone who has an open heart and is willing to donate their time and energy.

The women we serve appreciate the companionship, support and kindness that her doula provides. Women come from many backgrounds, walks of life, stories and histories. But the birthing year is the same: we want to give birth to a healthy baby, and we would like to have that experience to be filled with joy. This is not always possible if it is a sad time in the mother's life, but the presence of a birth companion can help spread the love.

We have clients from all around the world. Right now we are serving women from: Algeria, Haiti, St. Vincent, Germany, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Mali, Senegal, Guinee, and Quebec. Next month, we could receive requests from China, Cameroon, Mexico, the US, or Russia ... we never know where our clients will come from or when they will find us. We have had calls from women in their first trimester, and from women in labor!

Many midwifery students try to gain experience as interns in other countries. Volunteering for MBC is a way that doulas and aspiring midwives can gain experience working with women whose cultural attitudes and lives are very different from their own. It is a way that these doulas and aspiring midwives can really understand that the birth experience is universal, and that accompanying a woman in labor transcends language and reaches across boundaries.

photo used with permission

Where Have You Been?

I was in Greece during the coldest winter for years, working to ameliorate the lives of refugee women, men and their families there. I'm haunted by it. Not so much by the stories, which are monuments to human destruction and human triumphant resilience at the same time. But by the ego-based failure of those who wish to help, to really do anything effective.

I just heard news from Raqqa. The families there have no human choice. Stay and die. Leave and die.

What will we do? What is to be done?

I remembered the stories I heard when I was in the camps in Greece. And this song was going on and on in my mind.

A woman with bomb pieces in her hip.

Families who know they will never see their homes again.

A man who lay bleeding for hours in Aleppo.

A child who was thrown from her father's arms to her uncle's, as her father was dragged back to Turkey.

A child who makes money for the family selling sex ... while her mother takes care of her baby.

A man who walked with his wife, children and his mother across several countries to make a better life, who is angry because he is stuck in northern Greece.

An artist who painted the pictures of terror.

A child with a look of horror who walked around the hotel lobby playing a tin drum.

A predator extorting refugees for money.

A volunteer leader who is cruel and greedy.

Some children in a military camp killing a litter of puppies.

A baby dying of hepatitis.

A young man dying while the doctors were at the gate being questioned for papers.

The boats arriving through the fog and snow.

Boxes and boxes of stuff sitting waiting in warehouses while paperwork gets done and people are cold and underfed.

Couples wanting to make love and condoms tied up in bureaucratic red tape.

A young man in jail in Turkey for no reason.

A family with a newborn with nowhere to live.

And what do you do now, my darling young one?

Brutal Births for Asylum Seekers

Yes, as if it wasn't bad enough leaving Mosul, Aleppo, Damascus or any other not so well-known  place where war killed thousands and maimed more (have a peek here to get a sense of the immensity of the crisis), yes if that wasn't bad enough, if it wasn't bad enough to flee - to have to flee, leaving a normal life - the kind of life you and I lead - with phones and laptops and going out to eat and new clothes and a job and a house and cool stuff and a country you love or you love to complain about -if it wasn't bad enough to run through a country you didn't recognize, and maybe get caught by the police, or maybe your brother gets caught and he throws you his child - and you keep running - and then if it wasn't bad enough to have to live in a tent, when you're pregnant and having to pee all the time, and your sister is in Turkey and you are worried about her, and its your first baby and you don't know anything about having a baby because you were studying finance in University before all this shit started - and if it wasn't bad enough to get a call at midnight from the UNHCR telling you to pack your stuff because you're being relocated tomorrow, so any friends you had you can only communicate by Whats App because no one can get around much - and if it wasn't bad enough that you packed all your stuff in one nylon bag, and your belly is hurting and you don't know why, and you are moved to a hotel past the airport, and there is an abusive helper man there but you can't tell anyone, and if it wasn't bad enough to be living in a hotel, with no chance to cook so you want to be back living in a tent in a warehouse ....

Then you may be in labor but you don't really know - and who has ever been pregnant for the first time knows how this feels - and of course we get calls all the time when people think they're in labor and they just need some love and reassurance and they usually go back to sleep, unless they really are in labor in which case we go to be with them.

But in any case, there's no one to call, and you're frightened for the baby, so you call an ambulance. And indeed you're not in labor, but its kind of around your due date, and your baby's big according to the ultrasound, so you have a c-section. Alone, because husbands aren't allowed in, and because you don't have a doula, and because just because. Your life just gets more and more painful, and the blood is awful, and the people speaking Greek to you, loudly so you understand, but you don’t understand anything – not why you had to leave, why you are running, why you can’t just go to Switzerland where your brother is, why you are having your baby cut out of you instead of how normal people have their babies … it is awful, and you think about your friend a few years ago, she had a baby. She had it in the hospital, back home in Syria, she said it was painful but nothing you couldn’t do with just a little encouragement. Her older sister went with her, and she had a nice doctor.

Cesarean section rates are ridiculously high in Greece, much higher than the recommended 15% that the WHO suggests is a rate that both protects mothers and babies, and higher than the rate was in Syria before the war (see Syrian c-section rates here). Our average in Canada is around 25%. That’s one in four babies born – but those figures vary widely across the country and across socio-economic lines. More wealthy and educated people in Canada are now working hard to have a vaginal birth, and of course the possibility of midwifery care greatly increases your chance of having your baby vaginally. My private doula clients have generally had rates of c-section varying from 6 to 15 %. The volunteer doula program I led for many years served marginalized families in Montreal, and our c-section rates were high – up to 35%. I am extrapolating from my figures and from what I heard from the mothers I met, and I suggest that from a Greek 60% it may go up to closer to 90% for asylum seekers, in a rural hospital next to a refugee camp.

If you are an asylum seeker in Greece, you are at the mercy of spotty health care, and that care is embedded in a system that doesn’t work! The medical NGOs are doing their best - Medecins du Monde, Medecins Sans Frontiers, SAM, Rowing Together ... but prenatal care is patchy. And there isn't the kind of continuity that always makes a difference. Frequent ultrasounds are the norm, instead of quality week-by-week prenatal care. Logistically, it’s easier to plan an induction or a c-section than to have a laboring woman transferred by … by what? Taxi? Ambulance? Someone’s private car?  … at 3 in the morning if she goes into labor and has been relocated to the back of beyond? So she gets the call from her doctor, or a doctor who comes to the hotel or the camp, and off she goes.

The word is, that doulas aren’t allowed in the hospitals, but I don’t believe it. I believe a friendly, smiling face accompanying a laboring mother will be welcomed by the hospital, especially if that mother starts screaming the doula’s name when she is separated (sorry, yes, I have done this). I want to change things around for these mothers, and provide them with caring companions who will be with them through thick and thin. Even if they don’t get to go into the labor room, even if a mother does end up having a surgical birth, a smiling face at the end of that tunnel is a life-changer.

I’m not big on bureaucracy, protocols, rules. I believe kindness, unconditional love, and a little who-gives-a-shit attitude can go a long way. I am determined to change some peoples’ lives for the better, starting with their birth day.

Who’s with me? Please let me know if you would like to be part of my dream: leave me a comment and I will reply as soon as I can, or join my group on Facebook: Birth Companions International.

Volunteer Conspiracy: making a difference?

I arrived in Thessaloniki to a huge mess. The snow was only about a foot high, but the city was completely paralyzed. And people living in tents or warehouses were suffering, of course, not only from extreme cold but because we couldn't get there to do our work, for about two days. On the third day, the one car we had that was functioning (mine, because I had wisely left it at the bottom of the hill).

We schlepped out to the camp, bearing supplementary food packs (for pregnant, breastfeeding mums or children under two), diapers, and smiles. Our smiles probably looked a bit grim by the time we arrived because on the way, our chains fell off the front tire so we had a little crisis.

The second night I was there, my glasses broke but they were effectively fixed with white electrical tape so I have looked like a bag lady during this whole time, which probably increases my approachability.

We arrived to the news/rumour that the UNCHR was closing the camps, and they started by removing the vulnerable people, including families with pregnant women, babies or children under two. This made the volunteers' jobs much more difficult because we did not know where everyone was, and we did not have "official permission" to visit some of the hotels that people had been relocated to. Apparently. 

More volunteers kept arriving. The apartment became full of wonderful people, all willing and able to lend a hand where it was needed. I lived with thirteen volunteers at different times during my stay in Thessaloniki and worked with six coordinators of various types.

I would like to share with you what I have seen about the people who give up their jobs, family responsibilities, lives and lovers, homes - for even as short a time as two weeks - to live in a crowded, cold, disorganized small apartment with many other people - just so that they can provide support, care and whatever is needed to the people who are stuck here in Greece after fleeing incomprehensible violence and terror.

I met three other women from Canada. Yay Canadians! I love us for our toughness, kindness, "can do!" attitude, knowledge of chains and snow, sense of humour, sense of responsibility ... political savvy.... 

I met two women from America. One from Portugal, two from Spain, one from Wales, seven from England, and more from Italy, France, and Bahrain...

They brought skills! Knowledge of breastfeeding, midwifery, the art of being a doula (the most valuable skill!), women's health, massage, yoga, Arabic, ... they were dedicated. They were authentic. They were sensitive. 

One was a young soul who loved everyone and everything. She brought joy to everyone she met. One was a wise woman who brought peace. One was a chemist who never complained. One Canadian got grease up to her elbows trying to fix the chains in freezing winds on a Greek highway. One was a firefighter, her friend was a midwife - their friendship made us all feel hope in the world. One was 17 days older than me. Two are from another world, a world full of love, kindness, and amazing food. One is an unbelievable organizer, and makes everything better.... one does African dancing on the balcony... 

We got along! We didn't fight! We cooked together, and cleaned sometimes (sorry Molly) ... I think I was probably the biggest bitch there because I can be an awful bitch. But generally, we laughed, we knit, we took care of each other, we listened.

In the end, it wasn't enough. I have a dream. My dream is just starting to become a reality, and I am gestating it. Many of you know me as a person who gets things done. I am going to get this done. 

Embrace the Chaos

Rumor is, that because of the extreme cold. it has been decided that the people living in tents on the islands (yes they are still arriving to the islands, on boats, and yes it is bloody cold here) should be moved to the camps here in northern Greece that have been set up with tents, some electricity, some water, some heating...

So that means that the people living in the camps now are being moved to more stable accommodation - hotels and apartments that are either empty because of the season, or because they're just empty, or because they're condemned.

Which is great news. But because of the way the bigger bureaucratic wheels turn, there are some hurdles that us people on the ground have to jump over so that we can continue to provide care for the people who are counting on us.

First, we often don't know where people are. They themselves get a call one evening and the bus arrives the next day to take them elsewhere. It is most peoples' plan/dream to end up reunited with their families in a country where they have the legal right to work, go to school, and live a normal life. And it is most peoples' final goal to be reunited with their families back in the home country that they love. In the meantime, it is their short term goal to have a life that is reasonably human: to have their children with them, to have a warm place to live, food and the means to cook it, a toilet that works, somewhere to wash yourself, a sheltered place to sleep. These simple necessities have been denied tens of thousands - hundreds of thousands, actually millions of people worldwide, and many of the people stranded in Greece now are unfortunately without some of these basic human needs. So when they get that call that they will be moved to a hotel or an apartment they are happy to leave the tent ...

Which leads us to the next downside. Actually, two. First, the hotels/apartments aren't always very nice. Today I went to an absolutely lovely apartment where three families were living. One of those families had moved from an awful "Black Hole" in a condemned building where water was literally running down the walls.

Two, the communities and friendships that have been formed over the weeks and months living in the camps are broken when people get moved to different places in different places, sometimes in different areas of Greece altogether. I've spoken to several people who had created work for themselves in the camps who found themselves isolated in their new locations.

No one really knows what is happening from day to day. I saw an official report today that quoted the number of people living in a certain camp, as of Jan 18, 2017, and I know it is a wrong number because I was in that very camp today and there are only a few families left. So, the official people don't know. The smaller NGOs don't know. The people living in the camps don't know, and us volunteers on the ground? We know even less than anyone else.

Except - what we DO know, is that when we meet a person: a woman, a child, a man, we do what we can to make a difference. We don't ever know what that difference will be, or even if there WILL be a difference, but we try our best.

I'm not usually one for the speakings of saints, but here is a quote from someone who was born just north of where I am now.

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." Mother Teresa

I am a tiny drop in this huge ocean of sadness and despair. I have done prenatal visits: taken blood pressure, felt bellies, listened to baby's heart tones. I've conversed and encouraged using my hands, my heart, and google translate. I've visited some mothers with babies - mostly healthy, a couple of babies who are not doing so well, and I've tried to encourage and support. I've listened to people's stories, about family members far away, about war and bombs, about good news and bad.

What did I do this week? I drive from place to place, visiting mothers. Today I visited two pregnant mothers and then I went to the camp. Yesterday, I did groceries for the mother baby food packs and went to a meeting. The day before that, more prenatal and postpartum visits. Tomorrow, I may go to visit a newborn and her mother. Or organize a women's group in the camp. Then I might drive further north to visit some other people who have been moved to a hotel. Who knows what each day will bring.

All I know is, I am here to be whatever drop I am supposed to be, to help spread kindness in a world that is full of hatred, and to make a place where babies can come into this world with smiles on their little faces.

Day One, two, three

Everything here in northern Greece has been slowed down incredibly because of the snow. Of course, being from Montreal, I can laugh at the 6-8 inches we have here, but the fact is that many of the roads were closed on Tuesday, and my car has been sitting at the bottom of the hill so that we could be sure of having transportation, even if we have to trudge through the snow and ice to get there.

Monday I arrived:

Tuesday I got settled. Bought some groceries for myself, and a hot water bottle! I froze in my bed on Monday night and thought about the people living in tents or on the street. I had to park my car at the bottom of the hill and walk up with the groceries ... then later I walked back down with another Canadian volunteer to get chains for my tires. No snow tires here! 

Wednesday we went to visit a family with a newborn. Lovely family, we spoke at length with the neighbours, listening to their heart-wrenching stories. 

There was a field, dogs running, birds swooping down onto the snow, kids running and playing.

A child rolled around on the floor playing a noisy game on the phone. Her parents kept reminding her to turn down the volume. Sound familiar? 

A man was building a snow sculpture on the wall of the building. Maybe he taught art at the university before he was pushed into this life, or maybe he was a graphic designer in an advertising company.

You have to realize that the people - "refugees" or whatever labels you use - they are people like you: they have lives, families, kids, phones, tablets, worries, ... did YOU ever imagine you would be living in a tent? Neither did they.

Today we will be distributing food and necessities to other families, and visiting prenatal and postpartum mothers. It's a beautiful day.

"What can I do?" We are all asking ourselves. You can volunteer:  check out this link if you have free time and energy: http://www.greecevol.info/index.php

You can donate money: have a look, see what you want to support. There are organizations that work with every different sector of the population: children, mothers and babies, housing, employment...health ... 

You can get political. The borders are closed. People are stuck in the southern European countries with no work and no status. Their families have been torn apart. The political realities seem unchangeable and too complicated for normal people like us to change. Perhaps this is true. Then do your part to change the small things. Support the refugees in your country and make them feel at home. 

We are not made of snow and ice. Together, we can change the world.

Get It Done

I have to tell you one more time how I love to run. 

I was running through the Rockies in my teens, then I gave it up for a while. When I started again, a few years ago, I realized that the practice of running, for me, teaches me about life, and about discipline.

What do you do when you're a runner? You run! Sometimes you don't want to. Sometimes you're tired, or your foot hurts, you have a headache, you didn't sleep well, you're busy. But running means running, and it means that you actually have to get your running clothes and shoes on and go and do it. And when you do, you feel better. Usually.

So, now I'm sitting in Frankfurt Airport, after an endless trudge through the Terminal. Why am I here?

I'm here because I decided less than a month ago to head to northern Greece to help out the mothers and babies that are there living in camps while the world decides where they can go. I'm also here because of incredible generosity on the part of people I know and love, and people I don't know (yet). 

I'm here because being a runner has taught me that you just have to get it done. See something that needs doing? Figure it out.

I'm not sure what I will encounter during my three weeks in Greece. I'm waiting for my plane to Thessaloniki now, and I'm prepared to work hard from the time I arrive. I'll be blogging and sending you all news and experiences from my trip. I know it's cold, very cold, in northern Greece, so I will be trying to stay warm and to help the mothers and babies to stay warm. I will probably be using some funds towards that goal, buying warm clothes perhaps, blankets, or extra food. I am leaping into the unknown, in a way, except that I know my work and how to support new families. That's the constant, just like your breath or the feeling of your body when you're pushing your limits.

For now, it's one step at a time. 

I am still accepting donations to my campaign. The funds will be used for buying supplies on the ground in Greece; to donate to the organizations that are working with mothers and babies in Greece, and possibly to fund another trip in a few months.

https://www.gofundme.com/MothersandbabiesinGreece

Gratitude

Yesterday, December 27, 2016

I went over to a friend's place early in the morning to deliver a package for my son. Then down to the cafe with some supplies and ingredients for our baking extravaganza. Then over to pick up a gift for a friend who is grieving.

Then home for a minute, and I spoke to a postpartum mother who is healing from  c-section and learning how to breastfeed. Spoke to another postpartum mother who is finally getting the hang of feeding, and we discussed poop and the color of poop and breasts and all that baby talk.
I went for a run, I was going to do five k but man! the sidewalks were icy, I came home after a slippery run of 3 and a half k.

Back to the cafe, to pick up a meal for my grieving friend. I dropped it off at her house, full of love and sadness.

Then off with my family: three sons, husband and "daughter-in-love". We went shopping! I bought my lovely DIL a pair of sandals to wear indoors, and we got some booze, and didn't buy anything else but laughed together at the crazy consumer-inspired road rage happening.

I love my family - all for one and one for all! L'Chaim!!

Then back home, a bit to eat, drive downtown, to the movies!! Rogue One! I brought drinks in my purse because Cymbalists don't like to pay $7 for a small Coke.

Hey, the battle between good and evil? Good wins!!! But everyone dies in the end.

Then out for a drink, and we got a big plate of nachos, but they had chili con carne on them which we don't eat, so we got it to go and dropped it off for a homeless man on St Catherine - he ate well last night!

Then a different bar, the Whiskey Cafe, our regular. Drank good Scotch, had a blast, went home to our warm house, welcoming dog, and comfortable bed.

I lay in my bed so happy, so full of love and gratitude.

People living in Greece right now who have escaped the bloodshed in Syria? They had lives much like mine! Ok, maybe without the really insane Boxing Day consumerism, and no going to bars, but they had nice clothes and furniture and real houses and devices and good jobs and cars.

Now they have nothing. Tens of thousands of them are living in Greece, and I want to go there for three weeks to help young families with newborns, or those who are pregnant, so that their lives and the lives of their children, can be made a tiny bit better.

Please donate to my campaign, and share if you can!

https://www.gofundme.com/MothersandbabiesinGreece

Mothers and Babies

Many years ago I decided to interrupt my studies and go to Africa. I visited my parents in Botswana, then traveled for months through southern and east Africa, visiting the place I was born and the countries I last saw when I was very young.

On a border somewhere in East Africa, two things happened on the same day that deeply affected me and led me to where I am today. As I was waiting to cross to the other side, a young woman leaned heavily on the fence, clearly having labor contractions. She was on her own; a group of women crowded around her and led her away.

A few hours later, a woman came to me with a baby. The baby was sick, clearly dying. The mother explained to me that the baby had diarrhea and asked me if I could help. Back then, I was 23 years old, and although I knew quite a bit about First Aid, herbal healing, helping survivors of sexual assault, and the English Romantic Poets, I knew nothing about newborns or breastfeeding.

I didn't know that around 20% of all infant deaths were due to diarrhea, I didn't know about the links between malnutrition, formula feeding, breastfeeding, and infant death.
She thought I could help her, and I couldn't. I hope you never see a baby and mother looking at you like that.

I realized that day that I wanted to devote my life to making a safer world for mother and babies. I had a lot of other things to do with my life  as well, though, and spent several years meeting my true love, raising five sons, running an organic farm, studying midwifery, and working as a doula. 

Now I am ready, I have the skills to share and the time to spend. I am going to Greece to contribute to the effort to provide prenatal, childbirth and breastfeeding assistance to families in Greece who are living in very difficult conditions. Temperatures are low; people do not have good winter clothing; they are living in tents, in squats or in the streets. Babies are still being born, and children are still being raised.

“…statistics showed that in serious emergency situations, such as the one currently facing those affected by the Syria crisis, disease and associated death rates among under-5 children are higher than for any other age group.

The risk of dying is particularly high because of the combined impact of communicable diseases and diarrhea together with possible increases in rates of under-nutrition as people flee their homes.  The people inside Syria and those displaced may find themselves often in very difficult and unsanitary conditions thus can be at major risk of serious water-borne diseases. Breastfeeding confers critical protection from infection especially where safe water is unavailable and there is poor sanitation. Breastfeeding saves lives.” from safelyfed.org


I have created a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for my trip. If you have been wondering what you can do to help, this is it! Please help me help mothers and babies in Greece!

GoFundMe

Please share my campaign, and if you can donate even a small amount, it will be gratefully appreciated. The funds will go towards my air travel, accommodation, transport, and supplies while I am there, and any left over will be donated directly to the organizations in Greece who are working with mothers and babies. 


I am wishing you all a year full of health, joy, peace and love.  

Opening our Hearts

Yesterday one of our MBC mothers gave birth. We are rallying around two families right now who have nothing, not even one onesie. MBC volunteers are loving these mothers, who come from all over the world.

Montreal Birth Companions provides support, love, companionship and diapers to over 100 families every year. We do this with NO FUNDING. Every single one of my volunteers acts with love, compassion, and a deep conviction that we are all on this planet together, in the same boat, let's say.

In June of 2012, then Immigration minister Jason Kenney (succeeded by Chris Alexander) announced a series of cuts to the Interim Health Care Plan for refugees and refugee claimants. Although that legislation was recently deemed to be unconstitutional, the mess that evolved from it meant that birthing mothers that we were serving were regularly being bullied and extorted for money during they were laboring and birthing their (Canadian) babies. 

I thought that the damage done to families by our government could be assuaged by a group of committed, compassionate individuals providing loving care for people in need. 

Until a few days ago.

We have wide open spaces. We have shops brimming with goods. We have food banks. We have furniture, clothes, appliances that no one wants. We have loving people who are ready to provide assistance and guidance to families who are new here. We have jobs. We have schools. 

Let us end this culture of scarcity, where you are afraid that you won't get enough if you give something to someone else. 
Let us stop feeding the hungry ghost, and start opening our hearts and our doors to those less fortunate than ourselves.

Call for Volunteers

Montreal Birth Companions provides free doula services, prenatal and postpartum support, and resources for refugee, non-status, and other marginalized women in Montreal.

We are in need of birth companions ... please contact me if you are willing and able to devote some time to our worthy cause.
If you are a doula and you can donate one birth every six months to MBC, we would be happy to have you on board!
We are looking especially for birth companions who are fluent in different languages. We would love to have more doulas from our diverse Montreal communities. We welcome everyone who has an open heart and is willing to donate their time and energy.

The women we serve appreciate the companionship, support and kindness that her doula provides. Women come from many backgrounds, walks of life, stories and histories. But the birthing year is the same: we want to give birth to a healthy baby, and we would like to have that experience to be filled with joy. This is not always possible if it is a sad time in the mother's life, but the presence of a birth companion can help spread the love.

We have clients from all around the world. Right now we are serving women from: Algeria, Haiti, St. Vincent, Germany, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Mali, Senegal, Guinee, and Quebec. Next month, we could receive requests from China, Cameroon, Mexico, the US, or Russia ... we never know where our clients will come from or when they will find us. We have had calls from women in their first trimester, and from women in labor!

Many midwifery students try to gain experience as interns in other countries. Volunteering for MBC is a way that doulas and aspiring midwives can gain experience working with women whose cultural attitudes and lives are very different from their own. It is a way that these doulas and aspiring midwives can really understand that the birth experience is universal, and that accompanying a woman in labor transcends language and reaches across boundaries.

Please consider volunteering for MBC.

Refugee Babies

You decide to move to Canada, because in your country, you are hearing stories from neighbouring countries about chemical attacks, schools closing, medical care non-existent. Your friend's cousin's aunt married a man from a country where, ten years after she moved there, she is leaving everything and running to live as a refugee in a country she only visited once before, on holiday.

Your sister can legally sponsor you, and you move to Canada. You and your husband can find work legally, and the children can stay with your sister. You live together in a small apartment, smaller than the one at home but... the future looks good

Even the birth control pill doesn't work 100% of the time. The best way to not get pregnant is to not have heterosexual sex. But, you're in love, you're on an adventure...the sperm meets the egg, and you are pregnant.

You know you don't have medical coverage, but you don't care. You're young and healthy.

Then you find a doctor, who tells you that the birth will cost you at least $5000. If you have a cesarian section, or your baby needs care, it could go up to $10,000 or even $15,000.


I know some people think that the lady in question should "go home". But sometimes that just isn't possible. MBC has assisted women who have been living in Montreal as domestics, for years, and when they find themselves pregnant, they find themselves out of work and out of a home, and without medical care. Other women do not qualify as refugees, but they know if they go home they will be killed, or raped, or they will have to work as prostitutes. It's always easy for you to say, if you're a hard-working person with the good luck to be born into a place where hard work pays, and food is on the table, that "these people" need to act differently. But everyone makes love, and babies are conceived all the time. And sometimes a baby is conceived out of love - and when a woman keeps a baby in her body who is the result of violence and violation, doesn't that woman at least deserve our care?

Babies are being born every minute, and I believe we are ALL responsible for them. If we can assist a mother to have a birth experience that is full of love, and she can leave the birthing room knowing that she is capable of providing unconditional love for her baby, and knowing that she will be supported in this task, then we are paving the way for a better world for all of us: our children, and everyone's children.

Montreal Birth Companions doulas accompany women like these to the hospital to labor and give birth. Many of our clients are single, or apart from their families. Some have other children "back at home". Some have love babies, others have babies conceived during violence. Some have medical coverage, many do not.

If you would like more information about our program, please visit Montreal Birth Companions.

Birth Companions

I work with a group of women who dedicate themselves to some of the neediest pregnant and birthing women in our city. Since 2003, a "small group of thoughtful, dedicated citizens" has provided prenatal education and birth companionship to refugees, non-status, immigrant, and other needy women living amongst us on our affluent urban island.

Last weekend, two women gave birth, accompanied by MBC doulas. One lady was having her second child. She was isolated in many ways: linguistically, financially, and she was suffering an abusive marriage.
The second lady was having her first baby, and she was new to Canada and appreciated the companionship of the two women who stayed with her through the night.

The Montreal Birth Companions spend hours of their time with women in need. They never complain that they are underpaid; they never say how tired they are; they volunteer tirelessly not only attending births but also helping out with the administrative side of the organization.

I would like to share some photos of the doulas, the babies, and the women we serve.

Hands

One of our mothers with her beautiful son

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New Office - sorting donations

Volunteer Doulas

Imagine you were alone. Imagine you were new to a country where everything was different - the climate (cold), the language (confusing), the way people act towards each other (are they angry?), the system....
Imagine your country was at war, and imagine that no one in your family could be found.
Imagine, now, that after experiencing violence and abuse at the hands of strangers, that you found yourself pregnant.
We are very lucky, us Canadians. We live in a place where you can have your baby in a safe place, where you can get medical care if you need it, where people have the luxury, the possibility, to help others. And though there are problems, and though we don't all get the birth experience we always dreamed of, we are fortunate.
Montreal Birth Companions accompany women in need through their pregnancy, labor and birth. A volunteer doula will be on call and available for questions day or night, before a woman goes into labor. She will be by the woman's side as she labors, and she will share in the joy when the baby is born.
The Montreal Birth Companions doulas and administrator (yours truly) having been working on a shoestring since 2004. We are dreaming of growing, and for real growth to occur, we need cash.

Dining for Social Change is putting on a gourmet dinner tomorrow night. People will join together to eat good food, have fun, and the proceeds will go towards providing a doula for every woman in need.
I love having things fit together - and this event is one of those times. It is the hormone oxytocin that stimulates the woman's uterus to contract so that the baby can be born. This hormone is also important in breastfeeding. It is called the "love hormone". And it is produced when people are eating together.

So, a toast to all of you! Life, love and happiness to the women we serve, to our volunteers, and to our joyful diners!

Volunteers

Some women do it for money, some do it for love, some do it out of a sense of duty.
Well, the Montreal Birth Companions volunteer doulas just do it out of their own big hearts - and I look at these women and feel very proud.
Several years ago, some of our doula students decided to start volunteering their services for needy women who could not afford a doula.
Now, in 2011, this small group of dedicated women is officially known as Montreal Birth Companions. This month we are following ten women. Most of these women are single and isolated. All of them are grateful for the companionship and assistance of a doula, and they know that the presence of a doula at their birth will reduce the risk of unnecessary intervention.

Yesterday, one of the MBC clients gave birth with the companionship of a newly-trained doula. She had her baby quickly and easily, in just a few hours. Last week, one of our "veteran" doulas accompanied a first-time mother for over a day as she labored to give birth.

The Montreal Birth Companions accompany women from many different backgrounds and cultures. Many of them are alone here and new to the cold Canadian climate. The presence of a doula helps them adjust to life here, where isolation is the biggest enemy. Social programs help our clients to eat and find warm clothing, and our medical system works well enough (more on that later!) that they get medical care when needed. But the companionship of another woman during pregnancy and childbirth is a gift that facilitates the transition to "mother" and fills the newborn days with joy and hope.