I can't say enough wonderful things about Robin Lin, an American-born woman who runs the Bumi Sehat Foundation, based in Ubud. Robin is an extraordinary midwife who has dedicated her life to supporting the mothers and babies of Indonesia. Robin's clinic is the best place on the island for any woman to find access to safe care during pregnancy - and for Balinese Muslim women (a not-always-embraced minority) her clinic is a special haven, where they are sure to always be treated with respect and kindness. Of course, Robin is operating on a shoestring budget, but it's amazing what she can do with so little. She delivers 60 to 70 babies a month (the woman appears to never sleep) as well as offering prenatal care and breast-feeding support. The clinic has been so successful that Robin has expanded her work to Aceh (site of the recent Tsunami disaster, where she arrived at the scene of the tragedy even before the Red Cross got there) and she's looking to open to open a new clinic in Timor (which has the highest infant mortality rate in all of Asia.) If you can, please make a donation, and be as generous with your financial support as you can be. All donations are tax-deductible, and you can be sure your money will be well spent bring gorgeous new babies safely into the world. Robin desperately needs to build a new clinic that will not only provide more beds (she often takes recovering post-natal moms into her own home) but will also be earthquake proof, and ready to support the larger community in case of a natural disaster. Your donation will help enormously. And if you happen to going to Bali, take a look at the WISH LIST on her web site, and see if you can pack up an extra suitcase full of gifts for the clinic. Every blanket and every toothbrush helps as much as every dollar. Robin Lin is what we all should strive to be - a great, abundant, generous, warm and tirelessly running faucet of humanity and grace.
Group shot on an average day at Bumi Sehat Bali
The 7 small babies were all born within 24 hours of the photo
Tax deductible US$ donation: send your check to:
Shakti Foundation, "for Yayasan Bumi Sehat"
1507 Lone Oak Circle
Fairfield, Iowa, 52556
