OneMama

My friend Siobhan is changing the world. She is starting with Uganda.

Siobhan is the founder of OneMama, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing resources and awareness to the plight of women in impoverished, rural communities.

In Uganda, approximately 95% of the women have their babies with local midwives, rather than at a hospital. Pregnant women walk for miles to reach the midwife's hut, to give birth in conditions like this:


They come empty-handed, because they are poor. They often arrive hungry. The midwife uses her own supplies and many times feeds her clients from her own food supply, so that they will have the strength to give birth.

Siobhan is on a mission to bring aid to these amazing women, most immediately in the form of supplies. She boarded a plane for Africa two weeks ago with a load of birthing kits, solar equipment and computers.

"It really has been quite comical watching me try to carry all these extra bags with supplies all over the world," she wrote to her Glide family. "You should see the looks...Like they were all filled with extra shoes or something."

(In addition to being a hero, Siobhan is a total babe with fashion sense, so you can imagine the kinds of looks she's getting.)

She sent another email a few days ago:

"I have now been in Uganda for about 4 or 5 days. I have lost track of time here. It is taking some time for me to adjust back to this life with no real access to the outside world. It's like being completely unplugged from any kind of life we know in our part of the world.

I am sleeping next to Jamira, the midwife for OneMama, in her room with her, right next to the birthing area. I have to admit the first couple nights were a little rough. Jamira gets up at all hours of the night to help the local women give birth when they come calling.

The conditions are in great contrast to what we are used to in the States. Even though I have been here before it is still hard to adjust to living like this. There is no running water, but I do get a bucket to bathe with hot boiled water every day. There are also no power sources of any kind to utilize for lights or to power electronics. We use fires, candles, or solar flashlights. I have brought a solar generator and solar panels from the US, but they have not yet proved to be successful. It is supposed to take up to 48 hours to charge. So we will see...

Jamira... She is so sweet and she was so happy when I showed up with my supplies and showed her the work we have done so far. She just grabs my hand every chance she gets and says 'webale' over and over... This means 'thank you'. I really don't know what to say, so I nod and say it back and smile."

Have you ever been privileged enough to know someone who's really doing good in this world? I'm not exaggerating when I say that this girl is one of my heroes. The weirdest part is that she's also my friend. She sings in the choir with me. She's just a regular person, but she's living on another level.

One day she seemed a little down, so I asked her if anything was wrong. And she replied - in total seriousness - "I'm just exhausted from my fabulous life!"

Don't you love it?

Siobhan, you're beautiful. You make the world a better place.

Rock on, Mama.

To learn more about OneMama and how you can help, check out www.onemama.org.