In 2006 the maternal mortality in child birth, in Indonesia, was the highest amongst the member states of ASEAN.
In Bali alone, the mortality ratio during child birth was double that of the country.
A large part of these deaths which occur during pregnancy and childbirth are preventable through proper hygiene, pre-natal care and nutrition. simple matters to most of us yet often overlooked, or worse, unavailable in this part of the world.
Yayasan Bumi Sehat is a non profit organisation headed by Robin Lim which advocates for higher standards of maternal and child health through culturally sensitive pre-natal care, birth and postpartum services and working to reach displaced, marginalised and low income women of all cultures and their children.
A renown midwife and mother of 7, Robin Lim first settled in Bali with her husband, a documentary film maker, in the early 90’s. Through word of mouth, as all news travel around here, it got to be known that she birthed her own child at home alone thanks to her knowledge and practice and was a little later contacted to assist if possible with a difficult birth in a nearby village. The woman died as a result of haemorrhaging during the birth and that was the introduction of Robin to a problem she soon realised was much too common.
A seed was sowed, and in 1994, Yayasan Bumi Sehat was created. From a small space above her kitchen, it soon moved to its present location in the village of Nyuh Kuning, near Ubud, in Bali.
Through local and international awareness it generated private financial support that helped it grow to be the effective birthing centre it is today; offering free medical care to a community of a few thousands in need every year. Patients range from mother and child to the elderly. They come in search of a medical care otherwise inaccessible to the poor and at times feared due to a national medical system that has grown to be very much a solemn, cold and critical one.
On the contrary Bumi Sehat provides a nurturing assistance to those facing the hardship of life at its most, so they may see and remain able to celebrate the coming of a new life with the beauty, love and respects it deserves.
From Nyuh Kuning Bumi Sehat has since travelled to further reach those in needs. Its permanent team and renewing group of volunteer constantly provide and exchange knowledge with the surrounding local health community thus promoting the simple habits and practices they apply daily to reach a higher rate of gentler and safer birth in Indonesia.
In 2005, in the aftermath of the greatest disaster having touched the human race in the last century, Bumi Sehat travelled to Aceh, the Sumatran region most touched by the Tsunami disaster and established there a second clinic. Mainly financed with the help of the Rotary club it started by offering medical care, though quickly became a community centre where each and everyone comes to find support in one way or another in their attempt to heal from the loss, great in every case, that followed the terrible flux of the giant wave.
“The world will change when every single human being comes from the heart of a mother”. Indeed starting from one mother to mother, and involving everyone in her surroundings, Robin Lim and the association she created, contribute everyday to change in every way it can, the world of some to a better and kinder one.
Further information on the work of Robin Lim and Yayasan Bumi Sehat can be found through the links below:
Bumi Sehat Bali
Robin Lim Support
Yayasan Bumi Sehat
Nyuh Kuning Village- PO Box 116
Ubud, Bali 80571- Indonesia
Phone: +62 (0)361 970 002
Fax: +62 (0)361 972 969
E-mail: info@bumisehatbali.org
- Posted by Stephanie Robert
|
