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Motherhood and Birth Customs and Ceremonies

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Article: Rites of Passage - Celebration of Birth

SWEET MOTHER INTERNATIONAL INC

Aim:

Sweet Mother International (SMI) celebrates motherhood and aims to assist expectant mothers living in disadvantaged communities to maintain good health during and after childbirth.

Objectives:

Click here to read

Mission:

SMI's mission is to mobilise the support of governments and stakeholders to improve maternal health and wellbeing in Africa.

Vision:
SMI's vision is to participate with the world community to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, particularly, the United Nations' call to reduce maternal mortality by 75 per cent in 2015.

'Box of Love'

"SAVE" Team in Cote d'Ivorie donates household
products to families caring for orphaned children in Abidjan.

As a part of SMI's Safe Motherhood Project to assist mothers and babies, the organization will be donating 'Box of Love' to rural women inAfrica, particularly, new and expectant mothers living in remote communities in Africa.

'Box of Love' for expectant mothers and babies contains baby items, clothing, toiletries, nappies, shoes , toys, and personal hygiene products. These items will go to improving the well being of mothers and child.

Individuals could make up their own 'Boxes of Love' and donate or you may wish to donate goods for SMI volunteers to make up the box. These boxes of love will then be transported to rural communities, health centers and hospitals for distribution to new and expectant mothers.

Those who donate will receive a certificate of appreciation from Sweet Mother International. Also, a picture and list of hospitals and communities that have benefited from your 'Box of Love' donation will be sent to you as a mark of appreciation.

To donate, click here

"SAVE" Team in Liberia

"SAVE" CAMPAIGN
Africa Records Nearly Half Of World's 600,000 Pregnancy-Related Deaths

According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa based in Brazzaville, Congo, "Africa is the only region where there has been no improvement in maternal deaths for more than a decade. Indeed, the average maternal mortality ratio has increased from 870/100 000 live births in 1990, to 1000/100 000 live births in 2001", Click here to read the full report

To address this issue, the "SAVE" teams in Africa are mobilizing community support and conducting practical community programs to achieve the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals five which seeks to improve maternal health by reducing maternal mortality by 75% in
2015.

"SAVE" Team - Oyo State, Nigeria

According to Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, "in the 21^st century, no woman should give her life to give life" --indeed, this is a call to ACTION! and in response, the "SAVE" teams in Africa are taking effective action to eradicate avoidable maternal deaths in Africa.

Click on links below to view the "SAVE" team's activities in Africa.

"SAVE" Campaign - Liberia

"SAVE" Campaign - Nigeria

Inspirational Quotes:

"Sweet Mother International recognizes Mothers as the conscience and the "Pillars of Nations". Women are the fertile ground in which humanity is grown. Any nation seeking progress takes seriously the development of women virtues since mothers are the primary source of vision for a peaceful and prosperous society."
John Nze-Bertram, President, Sweet Mother International
Click to read the President's profile

“It is the tasks connected with the home that are the fundamental tasks of humanity….If the mother does not make her contribution, there will either be no next generation, or a next generation that is worse than none at all."

Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th president of the United States.

"Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role. When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier and better fed; their income, savings and reinvestment go up. And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, March 8, 2003.