Pregnant mothers class at Indira Kalyan
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How Save the Children is Saving the Unborn Child in India

Author’s note: This is the third post documenting my visit on behalf of Mom Bloggers for Social Good to see Save the Children’s work at the Indira Kalyan slum in Delhi, India. To read the first and second post click on the links. 

Indira Kalyan

Heading to our next visit within the Indira Kalyan Camp

Having a baby should be one of the most joyous times of a woman’s life. Yet tragically throughout the developing world childbirth is also one of the most deadly times of a woman’s life as well as the life of her newborn child.

Per Save the Children an alarming 3 million babies died globally in their first month of life (2010) and India continues to have a persistently high rate of newborn mortality accounting for 29% of all first day deaths globally or 309,000 a year.

India is not an easy place to be a mother either. A decade ago close to 75,000 women died during childbirth every year. Although that number has been reduced to 56,000 in 2010, it is still way too high, especially given the tragic fact that many of these deaths are preventable.

In India, there is no place that it is more dangerous to be a woman giving birth than in the slums where woman lack access to basic health care services, midwifes and hospitals. Yet organizations like Save the Children are making remarkable progress in educating women about prenatal and postnatal care as well as the importance of delivering their child in a hospital.

Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises India SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL BY REGION
Meeting with Frontline Health Care Workers in The Indira Kalyan Camp
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India’s Frontline Health Care Workers: Working door to door to save lives

Author’s note: This is the second post documenting my visit on behalf of Mom Bloggers for Social Good to see Save the Children’s work at the Indira Kalyan slum in Delhi, India. To read the first post click here. 

India has made a tremendous amount of progress over the last two decades fighting to save the lives of mothers and children. A decade ago close to 75,000 women died during childbirth every year and this number has been reduced to 56,000 in 2010. Significant progress has also been made in newborn survival. Since 1990, India has reduced the rate of deaths of children under 5 by 46% or almost in half. Despite the major achievements, newborn and maternal dealths are still way too high given the tragic fact that many of these deaths are largely preventable. The situation is especially dire in India, the second most populous country in the world, with a hugely disproportionate percentage of maternal and newborn deaths.

The Indira Kalyan Camp Delhi

Inside The Indira Kalyan Camp, an unauthorized slum in Delhi

The Indira Kalyan Camp

Women inside the indira Kalyan Camp

Per Save the Children’s 2013 State of World’s Mother’s Report:

  • Nearly 1 in 5 deaths of children under age five are in India. (1.6 million children or 29% of the global total ).
  • 19% of these deaths take place on the day a child is born and 53% occur within the first month of birth.
  • Large scale inequities within India continue to persist today in terms of wealth disparities, rural-urban divide, education, age of mother, caste, which means that not all babies born in India have an equal change of survival.
Children within the Indira Kalyan Camp

Children within the Indira Kalyan Camp pose for a picture

Global Health Global Issues Global Non-Profit Organizations and Social Good Enterprises India Poverty SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL BY REGION Women and Girls
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The World Through My Eyes

Traveling the world with a third-eye has always been the way I prefer to experience life. It means to view life openly and see everything – good or bad- with an open mind and heart. The world through my eyes can be contradictory and complex. Seeing both good and bad can bring so much immense joy and happiness while also such deep sadness that it makes your heart ache. Yet in my humble opinion, you cannot go through life with a blind eye. Otherwise nothing will change.

On my most recent trip through the Delhi slums as part of Mom Bloggers for Social Good, I saw a tremendous amount through my eyes. If I could look beyond the immense poverty, destruction, destitution and disease, I could also find beauty and hope. Beauty in the lovely warm smiles across the children’s eager faces whenever I pulled my camera out to snap their photo. Hope among the innocent faces of the girls in schools finally being given a chance to learn.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The world through my eyes sees so incredibly much.

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This post was written in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: The World Through My Eyes. To view more entries, click here.

Global Issues India Poverty SOCIAL GOOD TRAVEL BY REGION
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SUNDAY SOCIAL GOOD: Inspired by the slums and people of Khon Kaen, Thailand

This post is part of my Social Good Sunday series. It is a guest post from Alicia Rice who is living in Thailand working on a documentary film about the people living in the slum communities of Khon Kaen. This is a post about her work. 

A man from a slum community making baskets from recycled material. Photo credit: Author.

I came to Thailand as a study abroad student in 2008.  For four months, we learned about globalization and development projects in Northeastern Thailand, the poorest region of the area.  We read studies and got the chance to talk with government officials and company representatives. But the most important parts of our education were always getting the chance to talk with villagers.  We got the chance to sleep in the houses and get to know the people who’s houses were being threatened, or who’s farm was being taken away.

There was one moment in particular that really stood out to me.  As American students, we were often left with the question of what we could do, or more importantly, what we should do.

The more you learn about social justice work abroad, the more you learn the importance of people to be empowered and solve their issues themselves.  It left me feeling helpless and puzzled.

Global Issues Poverty SOCIAL GOOD