How to Start a Love Club

Last quarter, we took a big step and completed our first ever large project, raising over $10,000 to finish a maternity ward in Sierra Leone.  This project was successful because we had YOUR support.

We are looking for new House Mamas who are willing to start Love Clubs in their towns.  Want to know if you qualify?  Here’s the application:

1. Do you have friends?

2. Would you like to help change the lives of women?

If you answered yes to those two questions, you’re hired!  And you know what we want you to do?  We want you to have a party!  A Love Party!  We want you to gather with your friends in the same way you always do—but this time, we want you to share the vision of Somebody’s Mama.  We’ve picked a really special project, and we can’t do it without you.  Here’s what you need to know in order to say YES to being a House Mama:

• Our quarterly project involves building a school in India (more information to come shortly).  
• Our goal is to plan our parties in the months of July, August, and September (you pick what works best for you in that timeframe).
• You are in charge of what your party looks like!

Here are just a few ideas about how you can structure your party:

• Host a potluck dinner party and tell everyone to chip in what it would have cost if you’d gone out to dinner!
• Host bunco/bridge/game night like you do every month and instead of giving out prizes for the winners, dedicate one evening to Somebody’s Mama!
• Is your group of friends into garage sales?  Pool your stuff together for a big sale and donate the proceeds to our project!
• Come up with something cool that YOUR friends would love and run with it!  This is about connecting our everyday living with some simple giving.

Once you have agreed to be a House Mama, we will send you an information packet (via email) with more information about the project.  It will answer the who/what/when/where questions and provide instructions on how to structure your “presentation” to your friends.  We will equip you with all the resources to help engage others in the mission of Somebody’s Mama—and we hope you’ll have fun doing it!

Please contact us via Facebook or by email (somebodysmama@outlook.com) if you are ready to join us in our worldwide Love Party!

Mama(s) of the Month: Amy and Ephrance

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity for the Somebody’s Mama community, and we have had the opportunity to share our vision with hundreds of friends.  In the process, we’ve heard one question over and over—how did Somebody’s Mama start?

For the first time, we’re featuring TWO mamas as our Mama(s) of the Month, who were responsible for helping us turn our first good ideas into action.  Meet Amy Williams and Sister Ephrance Nuwamanya.

In 2011, our co-founder, Leia Johnson, met Amy at a local ONE gathering in Oklahoma City. Over the course of the evening, Amy shared about her NGO, the Bushyeni Alliance for Rural Health and Development (BARHD), which works in southwest Uganda.  About a week later, Leia attended an informational meeting and fundraiser at Amy’s house in Norman, OK and met Sister Ephrance, who was visiting the United States representing BARHD’s in-country NGO, Bushyeni Integrated Rural Development (BIRD).

At that time, Amy and Sister Ephrance (in Uganda, nurses are referred to as “Sisters”) were attempting to complete a clinic in a rural community, and Leia’s interest was piqued when they mentioned a need for a “placenta pit.”  In an area where blood-borne illnesses (especially HIV/AIDS) are a serious threat to community health, placenta pits are commonly used for proper disposal after birth.  Leia committed to Amy and Ephrance to help, and Somebody’s Mama was born.

After calling and emailing a few friends (check out this Mother’s Day post from Leia’s personal blog asking people to participate!), Somebody’s Mama was able to donate a little over $1,000 toward the effort to help complete the placenta pit, and we had officially sponsored our first project!

Amy standing on the completed placenta pit

Since that first interaction with BARHD and BIRD, their work has continued to grow exponentially, largely aided by American and Ugandan Rotary Clubs.  Recently, Amy emailed us about their progress:

“In the past eight years we have gone from one modest health clinic to four clinics which serve approximately 30,000 patients a year. Two of the clinics have maternity wards allowing mothers a safe and sanitary place for deliveries. We have seen more mothers opting to move from the traditional "at home" delivery assisted only by a female family member to the use of the Maternity Wards. HIV/AIDS has gone from taboo to something that draws hundreds of men and women to our clinics for testing. Our Orphan Sponsor Program has gone from just over 100 secondary students to 290 and twelve University students. To date we have distributed 11,000 mosquito nets with another 1,000 being given out this summer. Clean water and sanitation has been a focus the past four years. We have partnered with Water4 and Rotary Clubs to fund multiple wells and water containment systems.”

Amy pumping water at the dedication of a new well

One of the reasons we love what BARHD is doing is that they are constantly in tune with the needs of the communities in which they work.  Their success is heavily dependent on the work of their Ugandan friends at BIRD.  Sister Ephrance has received diplomas from Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the areas of Health Management, Reproductive Health Services, and Malaria Research respectively.  In addition to her professional training and service as a nurse for over thirty years, Sister Ephrance served as the first female member and then president of the Bushenyi Rotary Club.  She is married with six children—all of whom have received at least one degree from university.  

Sister Ephrance and her staff understand the needs of their community in a way that helps their American counterparts to pursue the most helpful and culturally-appropriate projects.  At Somebody’s Mama, we believe in building partnerships with people who are on the ground, serving in their communities just like we are at home in ours.  We recognize our strengths and passions as a piece of a much bigger puzzle—one that can not even begin to be put together if we don’t first listen to the stories of people who are living day-to-day in the communities we are hoping to empower.

We asked Amy what lessons she learned from her own mother, and she told us, “My mother was a strong influence in my life.  She became chronically ill when I was about twelve years old. She taught me to be strong and that you can do more than you think you can.”  Amy also noted her mother’s strong faith and commitment to hospitality.  As a mother of two boys and step-mother to two daughters, Amy refers to motherhood as one of the best God given blessings in her life.  She added, “It’s rewarding to have grown children who are respectful, thoughtful, and compassionate” and that any challenges she has faced in motherhood have paid off in the blessing of five little people who call her Grammy.  Her travels to Uganda have taught her that women—mothers and grandmothers—everywhere feel this pride in seeing their children and grandchildren thrive.

Amy administering a polio vaccine

A Ugandan Mama receiving services at one of the clinics BARHD/BIRD built

Sister Ephrance and Amy teaching about malaria prevention

Our partnership with BARHD three years ago was the beginning of what we hope will be a long and fruitful friendship, one that links Ugandan mamas to Sister Ephrance to Amy to us and to you.  No words can express how grateful we are to BARHD and BIRD for inviting us on this journey with them.  We are united in our love for each other, which knows no boundaries.

(To follow all that BARHD is doing, you can visit their website at http://barhd.net or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/barhduganda.)

Look What We Did TOGETHER!

Over the past few days, we had a smattering of random donations come in online and an improvised LOVE CLUB in Hawaii, AND WE HAVE OFFICIALLY FUNDED OUR MATERNITY UNIT!

1. We are floored by the generosity of over 150 people who made this happen.

2. We still have three scheduled Love Clubs this weekend, and any extra donations that come in will go toward buying supplies and equipment for the maternity unit.  We thought we were setting a reasonable but challenging goal, but apparently we underestimated how awesome you are.  Sorry about that.

3. The story about the Love Club that put us over the top is INCREDIBLE and too good not to share.

So, we have this friend, Nic, who is in the Air Force and stationed in Hawaii.  He wanted to start a Love Club to honor his mama, Jaema or “Marm” to her friends, who passed away about a year ago. 

Nic tried to plan a party, but as our military friends know all too well, it didn’t come together because his friends kept leaving to go on trips.  Did Nic let that stop him?  Absolutely not.  Instead, he started walking around his squadron telling people our story and collecting donations (snapping pictures of our friends in uniform all along the way!).

Nic, we thank you for your service to our country, applaud you for your persistence and commitment to Somebody’s Mama, and join with you in honoring your mama.  We are proud to call you a friend, and we know your mama is proud of you, too!  What an incredible way to honor her memory.

This maternity unit will serve women in Sierra Leone who would have otherwise had no pre- or post-natal care, saving the lives of thousands of mamas and babies for years to come. As we celebrate our collective accomplishment, we also celebrate Nic and Jaema.  Cheers, mamas!

Mama of the Month: Tara

Last year, Somebody’s Mama co-founder, Erika, attended Idea Camp in Austin, TX.  The event was an opportunity for organizations like ours to gather, share stories, and become friends with other people who are changing their communities.  Our new Mama of the Month, Tara, and her husband, Troy, were presenters representing Heartline Ministries in Port au Prince, Haiti.  Erika was drawn to Tara’s story, one of adventure and grace, and we knew we wanted to be a part of what Heartline is doing!

Tara works as a midwife apprentice (and will be finishing her midwife credentials in August) and is part of a team of seven women, four Haitian and three American, who run the maternity center and prenatal program.  The team has facilitated over 350 births with no loss of life to mothers or babies.  That is quite the feat in Haiti, a country that has held the title of poorest nation in the western hemisphere for decades.  

Tara’s personal journey of motherhood is long and varied with seven kids ranging in age from 6 to 24.  Tara and Troy fell in love with Haiti through the process of adoption, and after their first two adoptions were complete, they decided to move to Haiti permanently in January 2006, nurturing seeds of both love and concern for their children’s home country.

Heartline Ministries began as an adoption organization and has been working in Port au Prince since 1998.  Their website describes what an integral role they have played in relief, restoration, and development in their city. 

“On January 12, 2010 everything changed as a devastating earthquake destroyed most of Port Au Prince. Millions were killed, injured, or made homeless. By the grace of God, our facilities experienced minor damage and none of the people working for Heartline were seriously injured.

We responded immediately by transforming the maternity center into an emergency clinic where we performed major surgeries and helped hundreds of people recover. We were one of the few places in the city that could function so quickly after the earthquake due to the experienced group of missionaries and medical professionals and their diligent work. After about a year we were able to resume full time maternity services.”

Aside from their life-giving work at the maternity center, Heartline also addresses the needs of the community through life skills training for both women and men as well as feeding and education programs for children.

When we asked Tara why she does this work, she answered, “The need for quality care in all areas of healthcare is great in Haiti.  Maternal healthcare is especially important in that it can reduce drastically the number of orphaned children.  I love and feel honored to be able to work with women during some the most important, frightening, joyous, and challenging months of their lives.  I love seeing a woman come to believe in her ability to give birth to and parent her child. Supporting a woman that truly only needs some encouragement and watching her rise to the occasion and become the mother she was always able to be is a gift.”

Three babies who were born last week at the maternity center

She also shared some of the joys and challenges of being a mother to seven children.  “Motherhood is insanely different than I imagined.  The highs are so high and the lows...well, they are soooooo low.  I guess I didn't know it would be as funny as it is (little kids are ridiculously funny), and I also didn't anticipate it being quite so challenging. We have kids spaced out over 18 years…this means we are parenting littles, mediums, and big adult kids all at once.  I think little kids are way easier.  Little kid stuff is so inconsequential, "You lied about eating the entire bag of candy”—guess what? That goes away with your tummy ache after you puke.  No big deal.  Bad choice equals two hours of pain.  I like that sin to consequence balance—one mistake doesn't equal a lifetime of anything.  Something about the weight of big kid mistakes makes it all feel so daunting. I am a young mom, so maybe someday this will all make sense but so far, it is hard to figure out how to do the big kid thing well. The line between letting go (that whole give them wings thing) in a healthy way, and offering advice, guidance, and warnings that drive your children insane, is razor thin.  I so want to nail it, but usually feel like I am hammering my thumb and missing the nail altogether.”

Luckily, Tara has some inspiration from her own mother about how to get through the hard parts of parenting. “My mom worked hard when she needed to and taught me the value of finishing what you start. I have wanted to quit various things in my life, but she and my dad noticed that pattern in me when I was in 7th grade and they just refused to allow quitting to be an option.  That honestly was a huge gift.  Just because it is hard (painful, not fun, whatever)—doesn’t mean quitting is the best answer.  There are rewards for pushing through.”

What a gift, indeed.  Whether Tara is parenting from afar (her two oldest are back in the States now) or helping women literally push through the pains of labor, she embodies the spirit of what Rabindranath Tagore wrote: “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them.  Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.”

Mamas and babies

Today we are honored to know Tara and to support the work she is doing at Heartline. Tara, we applaud your willingness to serve, your heart for the people of Haiti, and your ability to inspire the rest of us to love greatly.  Bravo, Mama.  Love on!

Mama of the Month: Dr. ABD

Our last three MOMs (mamas of the month) have been women of influence with passion to affect change in the world around them.  We highlighted a mother of six who is changing the lives of women through economic empowerment.  We celebrated a woman living with her family of seven in the jungles of Costa Rica to bring hope and healthcare to pregnant women.  Last month, we applauded the work of a woman who has spent the majority of her life supporting education for all.

This month, we’re doing something a little unexpected, but we have a really good reason.  The reality is that so much of what are described as “women’s issues” for lack of a better term are not simply women’s issues—they are issues that affect men and children alike.  Statistics and anecdotal evidence supports the idea that communities thrive when women are empowered, supported, and given the chance to lead.  While we are a community of women committed to helping women, much is being done in the world for women by men who stand up to champion our rights and well-being as well.  

Our “Mama” of the Month this time around is a man who does just that.  We first met Dr. Abdullah Daniel Sesay through Steve, the founder of our parent organization, 4HIM.  Steve was hosting Dr. ABD (as he is known by his friends) while he was visiting the U. S. for a medical conference.  During that time, we learned about Dr. ABD’s plight as a doctor in Sierra Leone, a country that has been ravaged by civil war in the recent past.

4HIM helped Dr. ABD over the course of a few years with securing funding for building a clinic and for life-saving hernia surgeries for over 60 men.  4HIM also arranged to send two shipping containers full of medical supplies for use at the Magbenteh Hospital and Dr. ABD’s Gardenview Clinic in Makeni.  As we got to know Dr. ABD, we learned of his desire to build a maternity ward—which gave us the idea for our first ever Love Club fundraiser.  We are going to build a maternity ward at the Gardenview Clinic in Makeni, Sierra Leone!

Dr. ABD at the Sierra Leone House of Parliament

We have watched Dr. ABD’s commitment to his patients as a general practitioner and general surgeon, as well as his devotion to the country of Sierra Leone as a member of parliament.  He often works 16-18 hour days seeing as many patients as possible because healthcare is so limited in the region where he lives—one regional hospital and a few private clinics for about 2.5 million people.

Sierra Leone’s maternal and infant mortality rates are among the worst in the world.  Much has been done to improve these numbers in the past decade, but they still fall short of the World Health Organization’s Millenium Development Goal of reducing mortality rates by 75% by 2015.

Dr. ABD lists lack of education, poor nutrition, and other social and economic factors as reasons for high maternal mortality rates.  Infant mortality rates continue to be high because of infectious diseases, herbal/traditional medicine intoxication, and poor counseling from relatives.  Despite the fact that Sierra Leone launched a program to provide free healthcare for all pregnant and post-natal women in 2010, the problem remains that 42% of births are still delivered at home without the aid of trained physicians, midwives, nurses, or aids.  It is simply too difficult for many of these women to travel the distance to the nearest hospital or clinic.

Dr. ABD and his staff with an ovarian tumor they removed from a patient

Dr. ABD has already been providing the best level of prenatal and postnatal healthcare possible at his clinic, as well as saving the lives of women suffering from cancers and other tumors through surgery.  Recently, a foundation out of Europe has offered a great deal of funding to hospitals in Sierra Leone that have functioning maternity wards.  Helping Dr. ABD finish his maternity ward will open the door for him to partner with another organization willing to grant funding for the hospital.

We emailed Dr. ABD to explain who we are at Somebody’s Mama and to ask him a few questions.  His responses were weighty and humbling.  He shared several specific stories about women who have come to him for care—a 35-year-old woman suffering from swollen extremities and difficulty breathing who walked for four hours before she was able to get transportation to the nearest hospital.  She was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver from herbal intoxication.  Dr. ABD was able to help her deliver her baby successfully, and she is still under his care for her liver issues.  

Dr. ABD says there are too many stories like this to tell.  However, he is adamant in his belief that things will get better—it is what drives his long days of work and why he fights for the rights of his people in parliament. 

When we asked Dr. ABD to share his thoughts about his own mother and other mothers who inspire him, he was brought to tears thinking about the sacrifices his own mother made and his regret that she was not alive to see the fruits of her labor.  His mother suffered from abuse by the aunt who brought her up, leaving her crippled.  She lost five babies before he was born and almost lost him, as it took him three months to stabilize before he was able to leave the hospital.  She went on to have six more children.  He shared, “Mum taught me to cook, take care of my room and be helpful to others. She was caring and loving and I just miss her. There is so much I can write about her but time does not permit me.”

Dr. ABD paid tribute to an aunt, a single mother, who taught him to be “honest, true, and God-fearing.”  He added that he admires Dr. Christina Thorpe, the current electoral commissioner of Sierra Leone because she is smart, honest, firm and forthright in all she does.  Lastly, he added his admiration for his wife, who took in his two children from a previous marriage and cared for them as her own while she struggled to get pregnant for eight years.  They have raised five children together, and he pointed out her strength to endure hard times and her patience.

Dr. ABD and family members sending his son to medical school in Ukraine

Dr. ABD appreciates deeply the influence strong women have had on his life and passionately advocates for women's rights and access to healthcare.  We are proud to call him a friend and excited to crown him April's "Mama" of the Month! 

Thank you, Dr. ABD, for all you are doing, and we look forward to partnering with you to build this maternity ward.

What Now?

So you’ve agreed to host a Love Party!  And now you’re like—wait, what have I gotten myself into?  Never fear—your friendly neighborhood SuperMamas are here to guide you along the way to forming the best ever Love Club.  Remember this is about creating an event that fits the personality of YOUR group of friends, so it’s going to look a little different for everyone.  Here are four simple steps to being the best CHUM a girl could ask for:

 Create your guest list and event.  Do your friends all communicate on Facebook?  Create a Facebook event.  Are your friends of the more traditional calligraphy-loving type?  Send out invitations!  Are you friends with a bunch of texters?  Text out that info!  Do what you do when you want all your friends to come hang out.

 Have your information ready to answer people’s questions.  This is the part that we’re going to help out with.  Between now and your party, we will arm you with all the information you need to answer questions about why we’re asking people to donate money.  For now, you should know that we are attempting to build a maternity ward at a hospital in Sierra Leone (West Africa).  Sierra Leone is one of the poorest nations in the world, having been at civil war for almost two decades.  Medical facilities are few and far between.  We have partnered with a doctor who wishes to build a maternity ward at an existing hospital that will serve thousands of women who would not have access to any other form of maternal healthcare.  We are still gathering all the appropriate information and will send out more details as it gets closer to the time for our parties.

 Use this time together to get people excited about what we’re doing.  The goal of Somebody’s Mama has been to turn ideas into action from the beginning.  It’s one thing to talk about how much we care about making lives better—it’s another to move forward to affect real change.  This time, we’re building a maternity ward in Sierra Leone—but next time we might be investing in small enterprise businesses or building a school.  There is no limit to what we can do if we pool our resources.  The key to our success as Mamas is to find other Mamas who get just as excited as we are.

 Make sure to collect money!  Obviously, we’re building community and awareness, but the goal of this even is absolutely fundraising.  Some people get a little anxious when we start talking about money, but there’s no reason to worry about this part.  We want to make it as simple as possible.  We will provide you with all the information about how to send in any cash or checks you collect, and you will also receive information about how you can have technology available (computer, iPad, etc.) for people to give directly on a website—the simplest way to give.  As always, all donations are tax-deductible!

Thank you for stepping up to be a House Mama.  We can’t wait to see what great things come from the power of partying!

Lots of love (obviously),

Erika Wright and Leia Johnson

Founders of Somebody's Mama

Who Wants to Party?

For the past few months, we’ve been working on building a community of people dedicated to awareness and action.  We’ve been overwhelmed by the response people have had to some of our informational posts about maternal health and education, our inspirational posts about our MOMs (mamas of the month), and the posts celebrating the beauty that is being a Mama.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve worked in conjunction with our parent organization to complete two small projects that changed the lives of women in Uganda and one mama in Costa Rica.  These projects were successful because we had YOUR support.

NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING BIG!  

So, here’s our first official roll call for House Mamas!  Want to know if you qualify?  Here’s the application:

1. Do you have friends?

2. Would you like to help change the lives of women?

If you answered yes to those two questions, you’re hired!  And you know what we want you to do?  We want you to have a party!  A Love Party!  We want you to gather with your friends in the same way you always do—but this time, we want you to share the vision of Somebody’s Mama.  We’ve picked a really special project, and we can’t do it without you.  Here’s what you need to know in order to say YES to being a House Mama:

• Our first quarterly project involves building a maternity ward at a hospital in one of the poorest nations in the world (more information to come shortly).  
• Our goal is for each of us to plan our parties between April 8th-15th (you pick what works best for you in that timeframe).
• You are in charge of what your party looks like!

Here are just a few ideas about how you can structure your party:

• Host a potluck dinner party and tell everyone to chip in what it would have cost if you’d gone out to dinner!
• Host bunco/bridge/game night like you do every month and instead of giving out prizes for the winners, dedicate one evening to Somebody’s Mama!
• Is your group of friends into garage sales?  Pool your stuff together for a big sale and donate the proceeds to our project!
• Come up with something cool that YOUR friends would love and run with it!  This is about connecting our everyday living with some simple giving.

Once you have agreed to be a House Mama, we will send you an information packet (via email) with more information about the project.  It will answer the who/what/when/where questions and provide instructions on how to structure your “presentation” to your friends.  We will equip you with all the resources to help engage others in the mission of Somebody’s Mama—and we hope you’ll have fun doing it!

Please contact us via Facebook or by email (somebodysmama@outlook.com) if you are ready to join us in our worldwide Love Party!