The Civic initiative "Mother Courage"
is a result of the spontaneous rebellion of women against the treatment they
receive in Serbian maternity wards and hospitals while giving birth.
Complaints are mostly directed at the lack of communication, inappropriate
communication and behavior of the medical staff, outdated and inhumane
hospital protocols, and corruption.
It all
began in September 2008 when a woman published a series of six blogs
describing what she herself experienced at a Serbian maternity hospital.
What followed was an avalanche of similar horror experiences that women
began posting on the blog, as well as completely opposite, wonderful
experiences of women who have given birth abroad. People who took part in
the ensuing discussion made a collective decision to start a website titled
"Majka Hrabrost" (Mother Courage) for the purpose of collecting and
publishing such stories. At the same time, a petition for the Minister of
Health was initiated, demanding urgent changes to be made.
Today CI
"Mother Courage" is a registered non-governmental organization that has
received huge public support, wide media attention and won four awards for
its activities. The following 10 minutes long movie about
the beginnings of the Civic initiative "Mother Courage" was shown at the "Disruption Award"
ceremony in December 2008. "Disruption Award" was the first of four awards
that "Mother Courage" won in its first year of activities.
Original website page inviting women to send in their stories from
Maternity Wards:
The goal of this
website is to collect as many experiences from Serbian
maternity wards and hospitals as possible.
Why?
Because nobody
ever did it.
If you live in Serbia, you must
have heard at least one horror story about someone's childbirth. And
it does not matter when it happened - the stories from 30 years ago,
and the stories from last year are strikingly similar. And while the
discussions about the causes of low birth rates in Serbia blame it on
the selfishness of modern women who do not want to lose their comfort,
no state institutions, no media, no NGOs, no specialized magazines for
parents, not even the Ministry of Health - nobody dare talk about the
state of affairs in Serbian maternity wards and
hospitals.
Why?
Because they do
not want to scare pregnant women.
Is there a reason
to be scared?
Yes, there is.
A woman that is about to go to
the maternity ward or hospital has to be
prepared for a treatment that she probably never experienced
in her life before. In the maternity ward or
hospital she is being totally dehumanized, she becomes a number, she
is not being asked about anything, she is not being informed about
anything, she is expected just to follow orders and keep quiet.
Inhumane hospital protocols
will not have any regard for what is best for her and her baby, but
have one and only goal: to maximally simplify and reduce the
quantity of work for the medical staff,
without caring one bit about how much they will maltreat the
mother and the child in that process.
Disinterest of medical staff
will cause her to experience feelings which are completely opposite
to the joy and love she should be feeling after giving birth to a
child.
Should we spare women this
information, so that we can spare them fear? Isn't fear the mother of
wisdom? Isn't fear what keeps one alive? Wouldn't it be better to
eradicate the causes of fear, instead of trying to cover them up?
With an unrealistic optimism that a collection of experiences from
Serbian
maternity wards and
hospitals at this website might attract the attention of
the
public, journalists, politicians, non-governmental organizations,
parent's magazines, Ministry of Health and others that can maybe help
to initiate and implement some changes, I invite you to send in your
story, and to sign the Petition to the Minister of Health.
