I’ve mentioned before that my sister is in the Peace Corps, currently finishing up her last few months of a 2 year commitment in Burkina Faso (It’s a landlocked country in Western Africa, in case you’re like the lady at my post office who didn’t believe me that it was indeed a REAL PLACE)(A real place that takes $35 worth of postage to send a couple magazines). Carolyn has recently decided to extend her commitment another year, where she will move even FURTHER away from civilization and teach at an even MORE remote school. But before she leaves her village, she’s working on a promise she made to help her friends with an important project.
This is the ambulance in her village:
Picture copyright C. Glidden
Picture copyright C. Glidden
- Picture copyright C. Glidden
- Picture copyright C. Glidden
- Picture copyright C. Glidden
So, in reality, they have no ambulance. It’s unusable. If you are sick enough that you need to go to the hospital – 45km away – you get to catch a ride on a motorcycle, a bike, or a donkey cart. Or hey, how about hopping on a bush taxi, which is a bus that transports anything and everything in dirty, crowded, unsafe conditions. Seriously, do you want to be bleeding or in pain or suffering and riding in a vehicle that allows this?
That's a guy strapping a goat to the top of a bush taxi. THIS IS NOT THAT UNUSUAL. Picture copyright C. Glidden
Think about this: there is a huge lack of maternity and pre-natal care in Burkina Faso, and complications during labor are extremely common. With all the discussions we have here in America about birth choices and unmedicated childbirth and homebirth and waterbirth and birthing centers and other non-hospital options, there’s always the knowledge that medical care and life-saving interventions are only a 911 call away. These villagers don’t have 911. They don’t have anyone to call. There is no middle-of-the-night rush to a hospital if something goes wrong and a woman or her baby are in distress. Imagine how terrifying that must be.
Hey, that was some fun imagining. Are you totally bummed out now? Are you wishing there was some way you could help those women and babies? Today, you are in luck. Because after months of proposal-writing, paperwork and politics within her village, Carolyn has gotten the ambulance repair project approved by the Peace Corps and it has officially launched. They are accepting donations to fund THIS SPECIFIC CAUSE, where your dollar or dollars could literally help save someone’s life.
The link to the Peace Corps’s project page is HERE. They accept credit cards. I (and my sister)(and her friends in Burkina Faso) would be incredibly grateful if you wanted to donate – or if you can’t donate, if you could help spread the word to your friends and family. There’s a handy “tweet” button at the top of this post and the little icon links just below the end of this text makes it easy to share on email or Facebook.
Thank you in advance for ANYTHING you do to help repair the ambulance.
p.s. My sister doesn’t know I’m doing this. She hates asking for money even more than I do.
Bonjour! No I'm not French, it just sounded fancy. Sorry for the confusion. I'm Suzanne and the star of the show is Little Evan, who is now sharing top billing with Caroline, born December 19, 2010. I love hearing from you so if you have questions, stories or ideas to share, email me at bebehblog at gmail dot com.
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Done! And it was equal parts: I like a good cause, I like you, and I can go to bed without feeling guilty about not doing laundry or cooking dinner tonight
I like you too! And I think this should get you out of laundry for a WEEK. Tell the hubs.
Thanks for posting this. I donated $50 and posted a link on facebook.
Thank you so so so much.
Hey Suzanne,
What a beautiful cause! Can I post this link to my personal facebook page? Just wanted to make sure
ummm, I’m dumb, just saw the last paragraph… whoops! it’s 1:30 am and I’m up with the babe, can I use that as my excuse?
you are the bestest sista EVAH, suzanne!!
Uh, I think I was not supposed to laugh at parts of this. Though perhaps I was.
At any rate, I will be posting this link to my personal FB page when I get home today. And when the husband lets go of the grip on the pursestrings (thank you, failing economy that caused his month to be awful and my penchant for overspending on shoes) I will make a donation for the ambulance.
If I were in labor, I would not want to be strapped to the top of a bus with a goat. At all.
You were definitely supposed to laugh. And thank you so much for helping to spread the word.
It has been shared and my hopes are high!!!!!!
Yeah, she totally is the best sister of all time. I finally just got to the internet, and checked Suz’s blog, of course, and found this post, and almost cried. Especially with all of the responses- thank you so, so much!!!
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