Ubud, Bali Donation

I recently found myself, 7 months pregnant at a birthing centre in Ubud, Bali surrounded by tired-but-happy new mums and babies. Ubud may sound familiar to you as it's recently been given a tourism boost by the movie launch of the popular book Eat, Love, Pray. I was there, not to give birth myself, but to attend a wedding of a fabulous couple who had met in Ubud a few years earlier.




While there, I wanted to find somewhere fantastic to do a Baby Teresa donation, many thanks to Libby Showell for pointing me in the direction of the birthing centre "Bumi Sehat" - about ten minutes drive out of Ubud. Bumi Sehat, as I was told by our fabulous guide, was set up by an Australian woman and handles about 90% local births, and 10% westerners. Westerners pay to use the facilities, but locals are assisted for free.







After getting over my initial shock at their logo (well - it certainly meant I knew I was in the right place!) I was delighted to find that the facility was clean, well appointed and the staff were extremely helpful. More surprising was all the water birth facilities - I'm told they're very popular!

I met three mums while I was onsite, each having given birth within the last 2 days. It was fantastic to be able to donate some Baby Teresa outfits for some of the mums in need (especially being pregnant myself) and the centre welcomes donations - keep it in mind for your next visit to Bali!

Thanks to Baby Teresa's social marketing guru Lara Solomon for coming along with us on this donation and thanks to all of you out there who make our donations possible by buying Baby Teresa outfits for little ones you know and love.

- Kirsty

PS - the last two pictures here are of a Mum I met on the streets of Ubud with her little one.

Donation in Equador

Ben West is currently travelling around South America. He recently did a donation to an orphanage in Ecuador. A big "thank you" to Ben from all of us here at Baby Teresa HQ, you are a star! Here is what Ben had to say.




"Currently I am lucky enough to be exploring South America. Prior to leaving I was given the opportunity by Sammy and Kirsty to bring with me Baby Teresa outfits to donate to an orphanage in Ecuador. Quito, the capital of Ecuador has a large population of underprivileged and abandoned children due to its underemployment rate of 43.8%. (census 2001). The poverty in this town is hard to miss as beggers frequently approach tourists, many holding infants or young children.




My friend Victor, a dutch medical student who speaks far better spanish than I offered to help me to find a suitable orphanage. After two hours of fruitless searching on the internet for an address we decided to just walk into a church and ask. Four churches later we were on the way to an orphanage call “San Vincent de Paul”. Located in a poor neighbourhood one hour out of the city centre San Vincent de Paul is currently home to 65 infants aged 2 months to two years.




Initially we were greeted with some suspicion by the head nun at the orphanage but after we showed her the Baby Teresa outfits and managed to explain why we were visiting she was quite happy to show us around. Each bedroom held about twenty cots, infants and small children were everywhere. I saw six very hardworking volunteers feeding, changing and playing with infants and trying to maintain the peace.




The play area had few toys which the children were all sharing. An excited volunteer offered to dress some of the children in their new clothes for some photos. The other children crowed around wanting to be part of the action. After a few photos we left the workers alone who were busily dressing the infants in their new clothes.




It was a great experience to deliver this donation to such a worthy place. I found it immensely rewarding when I left to see a room full of little green and orange “tiggers” sporting their new jump suits."