Update: Courtney Hilbert, COHI Board of Directors Member and new mom!

Courtney Hilbert

This spring I have been blessed by the births of my first children, twin daughters Anaїs and Sophia. My experience being pregnant with and birthing these two beautiful babies was not only life-changing personally, but professionally. As a practicing midwife pregnant for the first time, my education was finally complemented by real-life experience, that which cannot be taught in the classroom or even learned on the job. I developed a deeper understanding of and empathy for both the physical discomforts of pregnancy and the emotional rollercoaster women ride on the way to motherhood. The birth of my daughters was complicated by a difficult breech delivery and a severe postpartum hemorrhage, both of which could have been life-threatening if I were not in the hands of skilled professionals with adequate resources at their disposal for resuscitating my daughter and stopping my bleeding. I came away from this experience humbled and filled with gratitude and a renewed commitment to ensuring that all women have the same access I had to skilled healthcare workers and life-saving resources.

It has been eight weeks since my daughters were born and I cannot imagine life without them. Each time I look into their eyes I feel connected to all the mothers who have walked this earth. I finally understand the indescribable joy of motherhood, the dreams and fears of mothers. I have cried for those who have lost their own lives in giving birth to new life and for those who have lost a child or cared for a sick child. Although it was my experience as a midwife that led me to COHI, it is my experience as a mother that has deepened my commitment to the organization and to women and children around the world in need of quality health care.

Update: Roquel Englander, COHI Field Volunteer, Middle East

Roquel Englander

I am volunteering in Israel with COHI's Coexistence Project. I am focusing my work on coordinating between COHI and Beit Hillel (a Jewish student organization that has been assisting and advocating for the Sudanese refugee community for the past two years) to provide pre/post natal care classes, hospital accompaniment and advocacy for maternal health rights to the Sudanese refugee women. Our first class was two weeks ago.  Surprisingly, many of the women who attended were not pregnant.  But there is a strong ethic of mutual support and as one community member put it when asked why someone who is not pregnant would attend, "You are not pregnant, but your friend may be and you need to be able to help her with the information that you learn in the class."  Reproductive health issues of all kinds, including infertility, miscarriages, and the effect of previous birth trauma were discussed extensively in addition to women sharing the strong, positive birthing experiences. The women who were pregnant were examined by the COHI volunteer midwife in attendance.  We plan to have these meetings every two weeks.

Our first baby was born a week and a half ago. The mother, Teresa, and her new son, Daniel, are both doing well.  A COHI volunteer doula and midwife were on site at the hospital to guide the mother through the process.

Update: Jessica Alderman, COHI Photojournalist

Aisha Saifi, Palestinian participant in COHI’s coexistence work in the Middle East, assisting with a birth (photo: Jessica Alderman)

The documentary photography project is off the ground! In the past six weeks I have met with move than eight COHI midwives in Israel and four COHI midwives from Palestine, all who are learning different birthing practices from the different cultural and religious perspectives. I have traveled through cities of all sizes, from the rural communities of the north to the deserts of the south, all to reach the women who are so dedicated to their work. While the Coexistence Project has faced some challenges, it is moving forward in a very positive direction. The new Palestinian group Aisha is pulling together is comprised of women who are dedicated to the cause. It will be exciting to see how they will be able to work together in the coming years.

Israel and the Palestinian territories have proved to be challenging yet exciting places to photograph. While I have been able to witness some births in the area, few people will let me take photos so I have had to find ways to capture the culture surrounding the birthing methods without filming the birth.  As I am finishing up my last few weeks here the project is really starting to come together. I am choosing to focus on each individual midwife and the importance of their role in the community. 

Gomer Ben Moshe (left), Israeli participant in COHI’s coexistence work in the Middle East, with a home birth midwife and expectant mother (photo: Jessica Alderman)

Within the next month I will be working with COHI to put together a book about the midwives in the region. We also hope to have a traveling photography show to help raise money for the Coexistence Project. If you are interested in learning more about the project or viewing more photos you can visit jessicaalderman.blogspot.com. If you would like to donate to the photography project click here and specify “documentary project”. To schedule a showing of the traveling tour in your area contact Jessica Alderman at alderman.jessica[at]gmail.com.

V-Day Announcement

COHI's last V-DAY performance of "A Memory A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer" will be in NYC on April 29.

Location: GLBT Center @ 208 W. 13th Street, NYC, NY
Time: Doors open at 7 PM, show at 7:30 PM
Tickets: $35

Get tickets from here or contact Anna Thomas at aythomas[at]gmail.com for group rate (5 or more tickets).

Please support our last V-DAY event of 2009 by attending or passing this info along to your NYC friends!

Following the success of our Johns Hopkins show in late February, events in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheva, Philadelphia, and North Carolina have followed, creating a great wave of fantastic COHI V-DAY productions.   A big standing ovation goes out to the women behind these magical performances: Talia Weiss, Genevieve Slonim, Sherri Farber, Rachel Pope, Katie Stimac, Roz Hunter, Somer Cooper, and Joanne Martin.  What COHImittment you have all shown! Here's to two amazing years of V-DAY and COHI working together!

V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery. V-Day will work as long as it takes to change the story of women and will not stop until the violence stops.

COHI’s Sera Bonds Receives E-Chievement Award

Our very own Sera Bonds was recently awarded an E-Chievement Award from Etown. Etown's mission is to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience, through music and conversation, to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world. Congratulations to Sera and COHI!