Magnifying our message through alliances
Working with allies can mean compromise and putting aside differences in order to solve problems. But, through by building alliances, we are more likely to be successful.
A call to action
As a teen mother, raised in the 60’s in southern California, women’s rights have always been part of my life, shaping my choices and actions. I was an activist for women’s rights through college. I started my Corporate Finance and Marketing career at a time when there were few women in senior leadership positions. We were effective because we learned to work together, forming networks and alliances, speaking with a single voice, making incremental steps year after year.
After completing 25 years of paid work and raising my family, I walked away, shifting my focus to charity work. I supported: a women’s retreat center in Kansas City; building Kenya Methodist University; building and managing a free health clinic Colorado Springs, Colorado; a new hospital in Ethiopia; and building a women’s health center in Liberia. Each of these efforts resulted in an expansion of my spiritual family.
As a lifelong United Methodist I believe every Christian is called to be in community and to serve our community in constructive ways. I have lived with a calling to "Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.“ (Proverbs 31:8) Over the years, women’s rights, health care and advocacy have become intertwined for me.
When I was invited to attend Healthy Families Healthy Planet advocacy training in 2011, I was already working to build a women’s health ministry and facility in Liberia, where the stories of the women and girls passing through our clinic created a sense of urgency to act. Between HFHP and the Liberia ministry, I found a new, more focused calling: advocating and fundraising to protect and improve maternal health.
The calling
God calls us to respond to the suffering in the world, to love our neighbors throughout the world. (E.g., Leviticus 19:18 and elsewhere) To help end preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths, we are called to action, to advocate for high-impact interventions that help mothers and children survive and thrive.
What does The United Methodist Church say?
"Health care is a basic human right.” (Social Principles ¶ 162.V) The same statement also says that health is a condition of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being, and we view it as a joint responsibility — public and private.
While motherhood is often a positive and fulfilling experience, for too many women it is associated with suffering, ill-health and even death. The statistics are staggering.
Every two minutes somewhere in the world a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. Ninety-nine percent of the more than 303,000 annual maternal deaths occur in the developing world where women lack access to adequate medical services. More than 4 million infants die within the first month of being born.
Working in relationship
A brief scan of the news any day shows so much pain and suffering. It is impossible for me to comprehend why everyone is not helping in some way. There are opportunities everywhere, but it is difficult to do this work alone and to stay focused and motivated.
The good news is that there are hundreds of people already at work in our communities. One just needs to look to find them and to reach out and make connections.
Allies are people or groups who have the same interests, capacity or resources to help give voice to an issue and help find a solution. They may be willing to share their resources and information to achieve a common goal. The community is more likely to pay attention when many people are working toward the same goal. Cooperation with allies presents a powerful, unified image to the community. Working together demonstrates that the issue is important enough to compromise and put aside differences in order to solve problems. The more allies you have lifting up the same concerns, the more likely you are to be successful.
The local RESULTS organization has become a tremendous ally for me.
Working locally with RESULTS
RESULTS works nationally and locally to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty. We started working together in August 2015 on the Reach Every Mother and Child Act legislation. RESULTS Advocates have long-standing relationships with local congressional district office staff, which has made it much easier me to build relationships with local district office staff.
Over the last two years, we have had numerous meetings on global health issues, maternal health, foreign aid, and budget issues. Most recently in April, U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner’s office initiated a meeting with RESULTS to discuss “current concerns” with Wagner. I was invited into the meeting, which focused on concerns about President Trump’s proposed budget, which includes significant cuts to foreign aid, health care/ Medicaid, and SNAP, and increases funding to the military.
Making calls together creates opportunities for more frequent Congressional meetings. Typically we go in with a group of six to eight people diverse in many ways: age, ethnicity, religion, experience. We try to cover a topic from many perspectives. While we advocate along parallel paths, together we frequently seek the same outcomes and have a powerful voice together.
