LOS ANGELES – Filipino American Robin Lim, a midwife based in Indonesia, has won CNN’s coveted Hero of the Year award for 2011.
As founder of the Yayasan Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation) health clinics in Indonesia, Lim, who is most often referred to as “Ibu” or “mother”, has helped thousands of impoverish mothers in the country with free birthing services from prenatal care, medical aid to delivery.
“Today on our Earth, 981 mothers in the prime of their life will die and tomorrow again and yesterday,” said a tearful Lim after CNN host Anderson Cooper announced her as the winner in a star studded gala at the Shrine last Sunday night. “And I’m asking you to help change that. We don’t even know how many babies are lost, but all of us can help change that.”
Lim became the second Filipino to be named CNN’s Hero of the Year. Efren Peñaflorida, a teacher who developed a pushcart classroom to help educate the poor in the Philippines, received CNN’s Hero of the Year award in 2009.
This is the fifth year CNN has honored everyday people changing the world. The national news organization receives nominations from around the world every year and chooses 10 to highlight and celebrate their achievements and contribution to the world. The public then chooses a Hero of the Year though a vote on CNN.com.
For being named Hero of the Year, Lim receives $250,000 for her cause. She and the other 10 heroes had received $50,000 for making the top 10.
Lim, a midwife and author, founded the Yayasan Bumi Sehat in 1995 -- a non-profit organization in Indonesia that serves thousands of women unable to afford proper healthcare in the country. The Bumi Sehat has two locations -- in Bali and Aceh. The two clinics welcome 600 new babies into the world each year.
Though the Yayasan Bumi Sehat clinic serves anyone needing medical attention, the clinic primarily serves the pregnant poor women in Indonesia that have no money or means for proper medical care.
Lim told CNN that it’s normal practice for hospitals in Indonesia to keep the baby away from the family, until the medical bills are paid. At times, some women that do not have the money to release their baby from the hospital relinquish their parental rights and place the baby up for adoption.
In Indonesia, where an average family earns $8 a day, a hospital delivery without complications costs $70 a day. A Caesarian section can cost more than $700, according to CNN. The high costs of births contribute to the country’s high maternal and infant mortality rates because many women cannot afford proper prenatal and medical care, said Lim.
CNN reports that three out of five women in South Asia give birth without a skilled birth attendant on hand.
“The situation is bad ... babies are unattended, deliveries have become commercialized, and mothers die from hemorrhage after childbirth because they can’t afford proper care,” Lim said to CNN.
According to her website bio, Lim is a US citizen raised in the Philippines, before settling in Indonesia. She explains that her grandmother, a birth attendant or midwife in the Philippines, is the person whom she most looked up to while growing up.
“A lot of my values came from my grandmother and my mother,” said Lim on her website. “My grandmother taught me to be a peaceful warrior. She gave me permission at a very young age to always follow my heart. That’s been my life’s greatest gift.”
Lim decided to become a mid-wife wafter. Her sister and her sister’s baby died from complications during childbirth several years ago. She and her husband then sold their home in Hawaii and moved to Bali to “reinvent their lives,” she told CNN.
“In the span of a year, I lost my best friend and one of the midwives who delivered my child,” said Lim, who has eight children, to CNN. “My sister also died as a complication of her third pregnancy, and so did her baby. I was crushed, just crushed.”
“But I decided not to get angry. I decided to become part of the solution. If I could help even one family prevent the loss of a mother or a child, I would do that. I would dedicate my life to it.”
Lim went back to the US and received her midwife certification. She then went back to Indonesia and registered with the Indonesian equivalent, the Ikatan Bidan.
To learn more about Robin Lim and her organization, please visit www.robinlimsupport.org.
Among the other 10 CNN heroes recognized in the gala include:
Eddie Canales, the founder of Gridiron Heroes, a non-profit organization that supports high school athletes suffering from spinal cord injuries.
Taryn Davis, the founder of the American Widow Project, an organization that helps young military widows.
Sal Dimiceli, a newspaper columnist in Wisconsin who through his column, The Time is Now to Help, helps people in need.
Derreck Kayongo, founder of the Atlanta based non-profit Global Soap Project, that reprocesses bars of Diante Latiker, the creator of Kids Off the Block, a neighborhood program in Chicago that helps at-risk youth off the streets.
Patrice Millet, a founder of a non-profit youth soccer program, that provides free equipment, coaching and food to children and teens in Haiti.
Bruno Serato, a chef who serves free dinners to poor children in Anaheim, CA.
Richard St. Denis, the founder of World Access Project, an organization that provides wheelchairs and other aids to disabled people in Mexico.
Amy Stokes, the founder of Infinite Family in South Africa, that helps children affected by HIV/ AIDS and poverty.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Dec 14-16, 2011 Sec A pg.1)
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