This Mother's Day seems like the perfect time to highlight our commitment to maternal health. A big part of our mission at Lalmba is to promote healthy and safe pregnancies for women in the remote communities of Kenya and Ethiopia. We do this through prenatal and postnatal care, continuous follow-up through growth-monitoring and nutritional education. This is an investment of love for the most basic partnership of all -- a mother and her child. It's also the first step to ensuring healthy children, thus prosperous families, thus happy communities.
Every year we are reminded of the link between the health of mothers and the well-being of their children. When mothers are healthy, have access to education and economic opportunity, the entire family has the chance to thrive. This is why in each of our facilities we have empowered women from the communities to train with us and assist in our public health efforts, so that they can be the source of continued education for their children when professional health providers are out of reach.
Let's face it, women are the main influences in families and in communities, and therefore are vital in achieving our mission of preventing disease before it starts and stopping the cycle of poverty.
Did you know that 57 countries have critical shortages of basic health care and 36 of them are in Africa? That's why we're there, and it's why we'll stay until our services are no longer needed.
Did you know that more than 200,000 women's lives and at least 5 million children's lives could be saved each year if all women and children had access to basic health care?
Lalmba's reach isn't that large -- we're a small organization, but we are making a BIG impact in the remote communities we serve!
The reason Lalmba started 50 years ago was to care for orphans who didn't have a mother or a father. And it's still a huge part of our mission. Today, thankfully, we have two wonderful women who are the surrogate mothers for the orphans in our care, and Mother's Day is a perfect day to introduce you to them.
Meet Jenipher Atieno Opiyo, our Children's Director in Kenya. Jenipher has been with Lalmba for over 20 years. She started as a cook and then worked her way up through the organization until it was discovered that she has a special love for children in need. There couldn't be a better person to provide care for the over 1400 orphans that Lalmba supports in Kenya. Happy Mother's Day, Jenipher! We appreciate all that you do.
In Ethiopia, our Children's Director also started as a cook. Meet Aselevich Terefe, a remarkable woman, a natural leader with the kindest heart, always pushing the children to be the best people and students they can be. It's no exaggeration when we say that the orphans in our care are at or near the top of their class in school. Their success is a testament to Aselefich's high standards, and the quality of care she provides. Happy Mother's Day, Aselevich!
While we're recognizing the special mothers of Lalmba, we can't overlook The Mother of Lalmba, Marty Downey. Hugh (right) and Marty (left) are the founders of Lalmba. They started this organization with nothing but love, compassion and a vision for a better life for a group of orphans in Eritrea. 50 years later they now have an organization that helps thousands of the poorest people in East Africa. None of it could have been accomplished without Marty's unflinching courage and compassion for the children and the poor. Happy Mother's Day, Marty!
Another special mother to Lalmba is my dear wife, the mother of my three children, my partner in life, and my partner in leading Lalmba into the next 50 years, Hillary James. Happy Mother's Day, sweetheart. I look forward to sharing this next chapter in life with you, carrying on the heroic work that Hugh and Marty started.
Lastly, to end this tribute to the mothers of Lalmba, the most important mothers are the ones we serve. They are the people who will transfer their knowledge back home and transform their communities into places that are healthy and prosperous. So, to the mothers of Decha Woreda and Matoso and all the remote communities that we're able to reach, Happy Mother's Day!
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of
friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
“I’m a mother,” said her mother, in her foodless flat where the dust did not dare to settle, “and I know what I know.”
~ Neil Gaiman
“If I was damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o’ mine, O mother o’mine.”
~ Rudyard Kipling
A mother
Tenderly urging
Confidently struggling her will into
you
Nourishing you from her body
Taming you into her vision of your
future
Comforting your pain with vigor and purpose.
- Unknown
"Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not." - James Joyce
"Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children." - William Makepeace Thackeray
A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in
them. - Victor Hugo
All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.
- Abraham
Lincoln
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before.
The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely
new.
- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
My mother had a slender, small body, but a large heart - a heart so large that
everybody's joys found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation.- Mark
Twain
Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.- Lin Yutang
The mother is everything - she is our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery,
and our strength in weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and
forgiveness. He who loses his mother loses a pure soul who blesses and guards
him constantly.- Kahlil Gibran
When I stopped seeing my mother with the eyes of a child, I saw the woman who
helped me give birth to myself.- Nancy Friday
Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss
the place to make it well?
My mother.- Ann Taylor
