Barre, Vermont - November 15, 2011
Out of a barn in Barre women are working to save babies around the world.
Katherine Bramhall is with the nonprofit group Bumi Sehat. The group is helping moms who lack access to basic prenatal care. The goal-- make childbirth a positive and healthy experience.
"Any of us who have had a child, no matter how old you are or how young you are, as a mother, you never forget that experience," Bramhall said.
The Barre midwife is working with 15 other Vermonters and a team overseas to build and operate birthing clinics around the world. It set up shop in Haiti following the massive earthquake there and is running two permanent clinics in Indonesia. This lifesaving work has earned the group a nomination from CNN for its 2011 CNN Hero Award.
"So many women in our culture don't have the tangible support of a gentle childbirth experience, surrounded by people who support them and believe in them," Bramhall said.
Every year, Bumi Sehat donates blankets, diapers, and more than 2,000 bottles of these prenatal vitamins to new moms overseas, and all of them are made right here in Vermont.
"Every woman who has a baby at Bumi Sehat, they get to leave with a baby blanket, an outfit, toothbrushes if they need them and vitamins, so that is a lot of stuff coming straight from Vermont into needy hands of Indonesians," said Erin Ryan, a volunteer with Bumi Sehat.
Last year, Ryan spent four months working as a midwife in Indonesia. She and her family plan to return to the island nation next year.
"Here in Vermont women have a lot of options, their options are all safe and it is very unlikely that they or their child is going to die in child birth, but in fact in the rest of the world it is not such a safe option," Ryan said.
Bramhall regularly spends time at the clinics in Indonesia, as well. She works with local midwives, helping deliver about 80 babies a month. She's in this for the long run, hoping to open another clinic.
"It's a personal experience as a woman and as a mother to be able to just come home and know that I am never going to save the world, Bumi Sehat is never going to save the world, but we're committed to one mother, one family at a time," Bramhall said.
A simple mission rooted in the Green Mountain State that's changing lives thousands of miles away.
The group is one of 10 nominees for CNN's Hero of the Year Award. It is determined by public voting. Click here to see the nominees or to vote for Bumi Sehat.
