Hi Frank, I don't think that anyone here would doubt for a second that your
support for mothers and babies in Haiti is stellar.
On orphanages, well there you hit my soft spot you see for I have two
daughters whose brains were badly damaged by institutional care in their
first years of life. Helping them heal the pain caused by the loss of their
mothers and the following harm that resulted from living in a (good for one
of them, not so good for the other) orphanage makes me passionate about
preventing that damage happening to other children. There are alternative
models to orphanage care that do not result in increased abandonment nor
brain damage but they are more complex to institute (particularly in
somewhere like Haiti). I would encourage you however, to keep open to
exploring other options, especially for infants and under 5s who are the
ones most vulnerable to the harms of institutional care...
Karleen Gribble
Australia
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frank J. Nice
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 11:32 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Haiti NGOs (and breastfeeding)
Yes; most NGOs do not know the consequences of introducing formula into
Haiti.
Yes; many NGOs are tripping over each other as 95% of the rubble remains in
PAP
and hundreds of thousands still live in squalid tents. I have seen it
personally.
Our NGO is a small one; we trip over no one.
No other NGO will go where we have been and were we are in Haiti.
We did not rush in and out after the earthquake.
We have been and will be there for the long term supporting breastfeeding,
the local economy, and the needs of the Haitian people as they ask us to do.
We hopefully know our place in Haiti, how long to be there,
and when it will be time to get out (and when and when not to use formula).
Most, if not all, of the Haitian children in the orphanage I built with
Haitians'
blood, sweat, and tears in Leon, Haiti have no mother and father.
We house them, feed them, and teach them instead of having them
roam the streets and/or die.
The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's group) do the
same and much more all over Haiti.
They are as close to Saints as you can be here on this earth.
All NGOs are not the same with regards to formulas and a whole
lot of other issues in Haiti since at least our NGO is not the same.
I did some deep soul searching after the earthquake about our
NGO in light of all the commentary on what is happening in Haiti.
After doing so, I realized I can live with myself and what we are doing in
Haiti.
Sorry; it is hard not to be emotional when I have lived in
the midst of and the outposts (Leon and Carcasse) of this devastated
country,
have had personal friends die, and mothers and babies in our care die
unnecessarily because the rest of the world knows what is best for Haiti.
Frank J. Nice, RPh, DPA, CPHP
Check out my Website and Book, "Nonprescription Drugs for the Breastfeeding
Mother" at:
www.nicebreastfeeding.com
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