Recently, my friend Seth, accompanied by his buddy Pete, began a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a venture they describe as “Two dudes taking a very long walk in the staggering summer heat of northern Spain to tell the world about the plight of women with obstetric fistula.”
Seth and Pete figured out that it will take each of them about 1 million steps to walk the Camino–that’s one step for each woman in the world suffering from fistula. Their goal is to raise 1 cent for each step–symbolically raising money and awareness. Seth’s organization, Operation OF, is an excellent beneficiary that combines treatment with micro-lending to strengthen advocates who return to their communities and spread the word about maternal health.
This is not the first of Seth’s forays into “adventure fundraising”–in the past he has scaled mountains–and he wants to continue doing this kind of outreach that he feels particularly speaks to young men: “Everyone has a mother. Lots of us have sisters and many of us have girlfriends or wives. How is the health of women not of fundamental importance to every man?”
Check out more and follow Seth and Pete along their 2 million steps at www.millionsteps.org!
Have you heard about the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) in congress right now? This video, from our friends at WomenThrive Worldwide, is a great introduction:
Violence against women, especially rape as a weapon of war, is intimately linked to fistula and maternal health. Traumatic fistula is a type of fistula caused by violent rape. And women who are the most poor or vulnerable, and more likely to be raped, abused, or married off early, are also the least likely to receive the maternal health care they need. By helping to pass IVAWA, you can help prevent fistula from occurring.
Want to get involved? Here are WomenThrive’s action steps:
Donate (your status). Post this as your Facebook status: Elephants, Polar Bears and Ivory have more preservation rights than women. http://bit.ly/cnkzV2
Create (a video) explaining why you believe in IVAWA. Check out the 31 Days video and post your video as a response.
Change (key Representative’s minds). A phone call makes a larger impact than an email. Here are tips on making an effective call.
Advocate (with friends). Last week, you helped to get Congressman Reichert’s (WA) sponsorship for the bill. This week, let’s focus on Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Post a note on their Facebook wall.
Share (what you know). Post the 31 Days flyer around town when you visit your local coffee shop, place of worship, library, or university.
“The annual Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, released by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 23 June 2010 in New York, reveals that the world has made huge strides in reducing extreme poverty, tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and boosting access to clean drinking water, but is still not progressive enough in critical areas including improving maternal health and reducing child mortality.”
