Grace Community Birth Center

Support for Grace Community Birth Center (GCBC) blossoms as the year nears its end, thanks to Ninotte’s trip to the US and community connectivity in Grand Bassin.

US Trip:

Earlier this fall, Ninotte Lubin traveled to the US, making stops in New York and Michigan. She met with past GCBC supporters and introduced many to the project. 

In New York, Ninotte met with Every Mother Counts and engaged with many wonderful people, including students at Vassar College, where she gave a lecture.

In Michigan, Ninotte spoke at a SowHope dinner in Grand Rapids. She thanked SowHope for their support, “we really can be better together.”

Finally, Ninotte reflected on the Traverse City fundraiser, “it’s been a special thing every year to share the progress of the project with the Traverse City community.”

Fundraising:

The $16,000 raised this fall further proved people’s support for GCBC, these profits will sustain GCBC for another year.

But the fundraising isn’t over: SowHope pledged a matching grant of $20,000 that will be awarded by the end of January. GCBC hopes to raise the additional $20,000 by the end of 2018. This grant is the capital funding for building the birth center. 

You can help GCBC meet their end of the $20,000 goal right now: Click this link to donate to GCBC.

Updates from Haiti:

In early November, Ninotte went to The Foundation for the Advancement of Haitian Midwives (FAHM) second annual Midwifery Conference, this was her second time attending. Ninotte was grateful for FAHM’s invitation to the conference and happy to connect once again.

The Grand Bassin community showed great support for GCBC while Ninotte was in the US: they intervened when road construction by the GCBC site threatened to destroy the property’s fence. Ninotte said, “they revealed to us how much they appreciate, care and want the project to survive and sustain… We have a long way to go together and there is hope.”

Ninotte continues to do prenatal and postnatal checkups, and registration for the next segment of sexual education classes/crafting workshops, are now open. The classes begin December 2nd.

Ninotte spoke again at Haitian schools to raise awareness of “violence in pregnancy and birth, consequences on the children brain development”. Ninotte looks forward to giving a large number of these presentations in the next six months.

Thanks to the myriad of supporters in the US and Haiti, Ninotte and GCBC have the means to thrive in the year to come.

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How YOU can support and help GCBC: 

Financially: 

Become a monthly donor and support GCBC’s education classes. Or make a one time donation: https://gracebirthcenter.org/donate/

Check out Tara Bella Botanicals

25% of the profits from the sale of TBB products go to Grace Community Birth Center.

Make Connections: 

If you know of organizations that can support GCBC, please set up a connection. To do so, please contact Kathi @ kathimulder@gmail.com

If you have ideas about ways to help financially sustain GCBC, please let us know.

Spread the Word: 

Encourage people to check out the website, tell your friends, encourage them to tell theirs.

Follow GCBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebirthcenter/

Follow GCBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBirthHaiti

To receive updates, enter your email in the sidebar.

Volunteer: 

If you are interested in volunteering please send an email explaining your interest and skillset: gracebirthcenter@gmail.com

 

Written by Nadia Daniels-Moehle

To all Grace Community Birth Center (GCBC) supporters in the Northern Michigan area: We invite you to a Fundraiser to support the building of GCBC’s birth center.

On October 13th from 5:30—8:00pm we will gather in support of GCBC and Ninotte.

You can socialize with other GCBC enthusiasts with the communal goal of getting the birth center built.

5:30 Music by E-Minor & Friends

6:30 food truck Nepalese Have Another opens. Hard cider from Taproot, beer, and other beverages

7:00 Presentation by Ninotte Lubin, CPM from Grand Bassine, Haiti

Help GCBC reach their fundraising goal: donate and share what you can.

Take home some artwork from Haiti, Haitian Art Work for sale.

The fundraiser will be held at The Grand Traverse Circuit, 225 W Fourteenth St. Traverse City, MI 49684. 

Share and support: spread the word about the fundraiser, invite and bring a friend.

Don’t live in Northern Michigan or can’t make it to the fundraiser? You can still donate to GCBC, click this link to be directed to GCBC’s donations page.

Special thanks to Nature Michigan Retreat and Dance of Life Midwifery for sponsoring this event.

______________________________________________________________________

How YOU can support and help GCBC: 

Financially: 

Become a monthly donor and support GCBC’s education classes. Or make a one time donation: https://gracebirthcenter.org/donate/

Check out Tara Bella Botanicals

25% of the profits from the sale of TBB products go to Grace Community Birth Center.

Make Connections: 

If you know of organizations that can support GCBC, please set up a connection. To do so, please contact Kathi @ kathimulder@gmail.com

If you have ideas about ways to help financially sustain GCBC, please let us know.

Spread the Word: 

Encourage people to check out the website, tell your friends, encourage them to tell theirs.

Follow GCBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebirthcenter/

Follow GCBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBirthHaiti

To receive updates, enter your email in the sidebar.

Volunteer: 

If you are interested in volunteering please send an email explaining your interest and skillset: gracebirthcenter@gmail.com

 

Written by Nadia Daniels-Moehle

 

As summer dwindles, exciting things are on the horizon for GCBC. Ninotte is working hard to prepare for her autumn trip to the US, with the biggest goal being to raise the funds to build the birth center itself. 

Birth and Care:

Ninotte continues to provide valuable prenatal, postpartum, and family planning care to the women of the Grand Bassin community. As soon as the birth center is built, Ninotte will start attending births. 

Ninotte is immersed in plans for the future of GCBC, and is currently looking forward to a visit from Every Mother Counts in mid-September. 

Sexual Education Classes:

Ninotte has succeeded in combining the sexual education classes with the crafting workshops; the young women are not only learning important information they are also engaged in learning useful skills.

The young women are doing their best and, together, were able to make a pair of sandals. Ninotte reflected that “they are very enthusiastic.” 

The garden:

GCBC is continually working with the Grand Bassin community to build relationships and trust, and the garden at the GCBC site has been a great way to do just that. 

While the planting season was irregular this year (there was little rain) the peanuts were still successfully harvested. 

Upcoming events:

Ninotte’s trip to the US promises lots of opportunities to connect: she will not only be visiting Michigan, but also New York. For the New York leg of the journey, Ninotte will be giving a public lecture at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.

Stay tuned for dates and more events.

___________________________________________________________________

How YOU can support and help GCBC: 

Financially: 

Become a monthly donor and support GCBC’s education classes. Or make a one time donation: https://gracebirthcenter.org/donate/

Check out Tara Bella Botanicals

25% of the profits from the sale of TBB products go to Grace Community Birth Center.

Make Connections: 

If you know of organizations that can support GCBC, please set up a connection. To do so, please contact Kathi @ kathimulder@gmail.com

If you have ideas about ways to help financially sustain GCBC, please let us know.

Spread the Word: 

Encourage people to check out the website, tell your friends, encourage them to tell theirs.

Follow GCBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebirthcenter/

Follow GCBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBirthHaiti

To receive updates, enter your email in the sidebar.

Volunteer: 

If you are interested in volunteering please send an email explaining your interest and skillset: gracebirthcenter@gmail.com

 

Written by Nadia Daniels-Moehle

Ninotte Lubin has been working hard to make Grace Community Birth Center (GCBC) a reliable part of Grand Bassin. She has been developing strong community relationships and while there are some challenges there is a common goal: sustainability.

Community Outreach:

Ninotte has found creative ways to teach sexual education and awareness and is moving away from sex ed classes to more interactive ways of teaching. Ninotte began a program that teaches young women valuable crafting skills and at the beginning of each session Ninotte gives a short sex ed presentation. The program had a bumpy start but thanks to Ninotte’s persistence and the instructor’s commitment the participants are dedicated and engaged.

Ninotte is also teaching and inspiring women outside of Grand Bassin. Florcie Tyrell, Haiti Executive Director at PICO (People Improving Community through Organizing) International, invited Ninotte to open a presentation for a group of 30 primary school teachers in Terrier Rouge. Ninotte engaged and enthused her audience with her talk about “violence experienced during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and its consequences on a child’s brain development”. Florcie and Ninotte’s presentations went over so well that the school’s principal invited them to present again in the future.

On Father’s Day, GCBC held a family-focused gathering and Florcie spoke about the importance of families in the community. Fifteen couples attended as well as some individuals. Together, the couples took a questionnaire about family and were inspired to do better at home. Ninotte said that everyone had a “really great time.”

The Garden:

Grand Basin is experiencing a very bad dry season, but has been able to sustain the garden thanks to water from the well. While the bees wait for the flower season (fall and winter) to make honey, Ninotte hopes to talk to someone in the states about strategies for caring for the bees in the offseason.

Upcoming Events:

As the business of summer winds down, we’d like to plant a seed in your autumn plans. We are looking forward to when Ninotte travels to Michigan in September and October. We are thrilled to say that she will be participating in speaking engagements and fundraisers, all aimed at raising funds to build the birth center itself. So, join us on Saturday, October 13 at 5:00pm to socialize, connect, and donate to GCBC. This fundraising event will be held at Nature (a new retreat center in Leelanau County owned by Emma and Bryan Cloninger). We hope to see you and your friends there. Watch for upcoming news and details. 

In the News:

As GCBC works on raising the funds for the birth center, SowHope has generously offered to match $20,000.  SowHope has featured Ninotte and GCBC in a news story on their website. Take a second to read the story.

 

In the photograph: Ninotte was able to help this mother who suffered from preeclampsia get to the hospital in time to save the mother and her twins.

___________________________________________________________________

How YOU can support and help GCBC: 

Financially: 

Become a monthly donor and support GCBC’s education classes. Or make a one time donation: https://gracebirthcenter.org/donate/

Check out Tara Bella Botanicals

25% of the profits from the sale of TBB products go to Grace Community Birth Center.

Make Connections: 

If you know of organizations that can support GCBC, please set up a connection. To do so, please contact Kathi @ kathimulder@gmail.com

If you have ideas about ways to help financially sustain GCBC, please let us know.

Spread the Word: 

Encourage people to check out the website, tell your friends, encourage them to tell theirs.

Follow GCBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebirthcenter/

Follow GCBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBirthHaiti

To receive updates, enter your email in the sidebar.

Volunteer: 

If you are interested in volunteering please send an email explaining your interest and skillset: gracebirthcenter@gmail.com

 

Written by Nadia Daniels-Moehle

Grace Community Birth Center (GCBC) understands the importance of transparency in the development of community relationships. Part of this development is engagement, and Ninotte has involved and empowered young people and mothers alike.

For Mother’s Day Florcie spoke to a group at GCBC about mother’s roles in “community, society, and the world”. After the talk women shared what they learned and how they would integrate these lessons into family life.

Creative ways of engaging young people has proven successful, with a lot of room to grow. At a sexual education class participants had fun making cards for their mothers, in celebration of mothers day, after the class.

 

 

A first time client at GCBC was able to have a great birth, thanks in part to Ninotte’s expertise, the mother of 6 was very happy and thankful.

 

 

As the garden continues to flourish, the peanut plants grow strong and there is space prepared to pant plantains. A section of the property will be filled with pigeon peas and tapioca, which originates from the cassava root, both of these are great nourishment in the Haitian diet.

GCBC has partnered with Community Coalition for Haiti (CCH), of Jacmel, to teach Days for Girls in schools. Rubinste St. Louis, in-country director for CCH and GCBC board member, and Melissa Jean-Bart, Health resources and clinic coordinator, were kind enough to give 40 Days for Girls kits to GCBC, and Ninotte is now able to supply them to girls in the community. More happy members of the GCBC community:

Stay tuned for regular updates from Grace Community Birth Center.

____________________________________________________________________________

How YOU can support and help GCBC: 

Financially: 

Become a monthly donor and support GCBC’s education classes. Or make a one time donation: https://gracebirthcenter.org/donate/

Check out Tara Bella Botanicals

25% of the profits from the sale of TBB products go to Grace Community Birth Center.

Make Connections: 

If you know of organizations that can support GCBC, please set up a connection. To do so, please contact Kathi @ kathimulder@gmail.com

If you have ideas about ways to help financially sustain GCBC, please let us know.

Spread the Word: 

Encourage people to check out the website, tell your friends, encourage them to tell theirs.

Follow GCBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebirthcenter/

Follow GCBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBirthHaiti

To receive updates, enter your email in the sidebar.

Volunteer: 

If you are interested in volunteering please send an email explaining your interest and skillset: gracebirthcenter@gmail.com

 

Written by Nadia Daniels-Moehle

Written by Nadia Daniels-Moehle

So much has happened at Grace Community Birth Center in the last few months, new honey from beehives, connecting with the community, planting peanuts, well received sex-ed classes, and, of course, births. Ninotte Lubin, CPM shared updates about the amazing things GCBC has been up to.

At the beginning of the year GCBC hosted meetings between healthcare providers and community leaders. “We got to share the full spectrum of the project. Everyone is excited to participate as we have our own education center,” Ninotte said. The Presbyterian Church of Traverse City, Michigan funded the “Education Center” which was built in 2017.

While preparing for one of these meetings, on January 31, they noticed that a pregnant and nearly due neighbor presented symptoms of pre-eclampsia. Ninotte promptly sent her to the hospital. “Later the same day she had a c-section with surprise twins.” Ninotte almost certainly saved the life of this woman and her babies!

“As you can see in the pictures, the twins are growing and looking healthy (a boy and a girl) and exclusively breastfeeding. These people are so grateful to have GCBC in the community.”

 

Grace Community Birth Center’s 25 beehives have been fruitful. “We did a honey harvest where we shared with some people in the community and some potential clients. We were able to make around $100 from the honey. The next harvest will be sold as we plan ahead.”

Ninotte has been working with women in the community, facilitating ways for them to connect. “On March 8, we celebrated International Women’s Day with the women’s group in the community. We had a special guest, Florcie L Tyrel, and we had a great time together thinking about how we, as women, can rebuild the community to make it a better place for our children.

GCBC’s sex education classes have begun; they take place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Having three different classes is beneficial. “With fewer people in each class it is more enjoyable and fun to teach and learn. It’s great so far.” Ninotte continues to reach out, hoping to include more young people in the sex ed classes. “I was invited to a couple other neighborhoods to motivate some more to come. The boys got excited. Next week we will definitely have more of them.”

On March 26, community members helped GCBC plant peanuts, “We had some men to dig holes and women adding the peanuts and covering them. It was great.”

“We are expecting to start a peanut butter project with the women in the community.” The peanuts are scheduled to be harvested sometime in July and August.

In April, Ninotte was very excited to welcome Kathi and Craig Mulder to Haiti. “I feel so good that, finally, a couple of GCBC board members, supporters (especially from Traverse City) are coming to witness the progress of what we have made together. I can’t wait for them to land.”

“It was such a gift to see all that Ninotte is doing and to meet the Grand Bassin community,” Kathi reflected on their time in Haiti. “When we met with some of the community leaders and health care workers they voiced the need for the women to have a safe, clean place to give birth with well trained midwives in attendance. We hope to break ground for the actual birth center sometime next year!”

Kathi and Craig arrived in Haiti with donated supplies, including kits from Days for Girls of Benzie County, Michigan. “Thanks to generous donations from several sources we were able to bring some much needed supplies.  Days for Girls of Benzie County provided cloth menstrual kits for the girls attending the sexual education classes.” As Kathi explained, “the girls were grateful to receive these and would like to learn how to sew their own.”

Stay tuned for monthly updates from Grace Community Birth Center.

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How YOU can support and help GCBC: 

Financially: 

Become a monthly donor and support GCBC’s education classes. Or make a one time donation: https://gracebirthcenter.org/donate/

Check out Tara Bella Botanicals where 25% of the profits from the sale of TBB products go to Grace Community Birth Center.

Make Connections: 

If you know of organizations that can support GCBC, please set up a connection.

If you have ideas about ways to help financially sustain GCBC, please let us know.

Spread the Word: 

Encourage people to check out the website, tell your friends, encourage them to tell theirs.

Follow GCBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracebirthcenter/

Follow GCBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraceBirthHaiti

To receive updates, enter your email in the sidebar.

Volunteer: 

If you are interested in volunteering please send an email explaining your interest and skillset: gracebirthcenter@gmail.com

Newsletter of the end of the year 2017