#cleanbirth

Unite for Girl Rising

Have you heard of the film, Girl Rising, yet? This blog post is dedicated to the revolution that is emerging from this powerful and uplifting documentary, currently being screened in select communities across the country.

10x10, producers of the film, are aware of the many unfair obstacles that girls and women face everyday across the world. The film highlights the many challenges that girls confront across the globe, and how education is the most powerful tool for empowering girls to rise above adversity, better their lives, and change the world.

We also believe strongly in the power of education here at ayzh. Across the world, we see so many girls getting married and giving birth at a very young age, often deprived of knowledge and access to clean birth practices.  ayzh is also acutely aware the poor quality of rural health care systems, recognizing the HUGE need for educating women working as healthcare providers in resource-poor settings.

That is why EDUCATION is a core part of ayzh’s value chain, in two big ways:

Through our innovative Mobile Phone training program, we educate rural healthcare workers (primarily women) on the Six Cleans of Childbirth and how to use our Clean Birth Kit in a Purse properly.

During assembly of our kits, we empower women employees with both job training and the importance of reproductive health and clean birth practices, so that they can become spokespeople for their daughters and their communities.  

We believe there is a direct correlation between educating girls and improving health outcomes around the world.

This is an amazing movement around the world and we would love you to join us! 

Consider donating to our small purse BIG CHANGE campaign on Indiegogo, which is helping to fund our innovative education initiative.  

You can also visit www.girlrising.com to find or host a Girl Rising screening in your community.

"For Women, by Women" - Assembling a Better Future

ayzh strives to empower women through each aspect of our company, creating an overall better standard of living. Not only do we work to improve women’s health and ensure a clean and happy birth, we also aim to create financial and social advancement for the women we employ.

Our Clean Birth Kit in a Purse is created by women, for women. This unique dynamic helps to create a sustainable and empowering cycle of healthy and empowered women.

To date, ayzh has created 962,000 additional work hours for women, who enjoy working in a safe, social working environment in our product assembly center in Chennai, India.  

As our company scales, we aim to keep making bigger change by increasing the number of women we employ.

What does "ayzh employment" mean for women?

It means additional income for her family; the man in the household does not have to be the only breadwinner. Additional income means more funds can be dedicated to her children’s education; a higher likelihood that her family will be provided with the proper nutrients to live a successful life; and a greater probability that a woman and her family will have access to necessary health care.

We believe in empowering women because we see the ripple effect of change that will be created in her own life and in her children’s lives, ensuring BIG CHANGE for generations to come. By employing women, we mean that our small purse is creating BIG CHANGE in more ways than one.

Let’s Celebrate! Recently Tipped Campaigns…

Project Whole Sky, People to People’s newest program, focuses on developing Nursing Leadership and securing academic partnerships to improve healthcare in Ethiopia. The mission begins by joining People to People in Ethiopia in March to build programs and set up academic partnerships. Funds raised will support a mission trip to Ethiopia to begin building bridges and help infuse more nursing providers in Ethiopia.  The $6,115 raised to date will cover travel related costs for Director of Nursing, Chris DeWilde, and her videographer and the costs related to the initial work they set out to accomplish. With three days still left in the campaign, anything raised beyond the tipping point will help establish a nursing education scholarship fund, solidify a partnership between a western institution and an Ethiopian nursing school, and develop a health training program for orphan girls in Ethiopia.

CleanBirth.org has partnered with Our Village Association, a Lao non-profit, to train village nurses in the use and distribution of AYZH Clean Birth Kits. Presently, there is an extremely high rate of infant and maternal mortality in the country of Laos. CleanBirth.org seeks to prevent these pregnancy and birth related deaths by distributing these kits and further educating local nurses on how to equip women with the knowledge of safe, hygienic birthing practices. Just $5 gives one mother a life-saving Clean Birth Kit

Brand New Good! StartSomeGood’s Newest Campaigns... 

The Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association (ARCAS), a non-profit formed by a group of Hawaiian citizens concerned about their native wildlife in Guatemala, Hawaii, is raising funds to reconstruct the sea turtle hatchery in this rural Hawaiian town. The Leatherback and Olive Ridley Sea Turtles are both endangered. To make matters worse, their nests in Guatemala are poached and the eggs are sold as an aphrodisiac. To counteract this trend, the government started requiring local residents who collect these eggs to donate one dozen eggs per nest to a local hatchery. ARCAS operates one of these local hatcheries, increasing the number of eggs rescued each year from 5,000 to 50,000. Unfortunately, the main Hawaii Hatchery is over 18 years old and severely deteriorated. There is an urgent need for reconstruction because the hatchery can’t accommodate the increasing number of eggs that ARCAS collects. This is where you can step in to help rebuild a hatchery and save a species. Reaching the $2,500 tipping goal means ARCAS can purchase the most essential materials needed to begin building the initial structure for the hatchery.

  Earthworker is a practical, innovative approach to begin constructing a new economic system that respects the environment and its workers. Earthworker aims to establish Eureka’s Future, Australia’s first green workers’ co-operative to manufacture solar hot water units. By establishing Australia’s first workers’ co-operative for sustainable manufacturing, Earthworker can produce the first run of solar hot water units under license with the tipping goal of $9,895. Let’s help give Earthworker a License to Co-operate.

    Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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Brand New Good! StartSomeGood’s Newest Campaigns…

CleanBirth.org has partnered with Our Village Association, a Lao non-profit, to train village nurses in the use and distribution of AYZH Clean Birth Kits. Presently, there is an extremely high rate of infant and maternal mortality in the country of Laos. CleanBirth.org seeks to prevent these pregnancy and birth related deaths by distributing these kits and further educating local nurses on how to equip women with the knowledge of safe, hygienic birthing practices. Just $5 gives one mother a life-saving Clean Birth Kit that can save two lives. When the tipping point goal of $1,650 is met, CleanBirth.org can distribute three months’ worth of supplies (330 birthing kits) and fund Safe Birth Outreach programs in remote villages. Over 90% of mother deaths are preventable through education and the proper healthcare supplies.

  More than 50% of the homeless population in Australia is under the age of 25. Youth Homelessness Matters Day is a national awareness campaign aimed at changing this startling figure so that all young people have a safe place to call home. Chris Lewis is a formerly homeless young man who is raising money so that Youth Homlessless Matters Day can sponsor young homeless people to take part in this year’s Amazing Race for Youth in Sydney. Chris will be riding his bike from Sydney to Torquey to raise awareness about the youth homelessness problem and show these young people that they have an amazing support system. The tipping point goal of $1,450 will help sponsor four young people to take part in the Amazing Race for Youth. This will help these young people realize others support them in the fight to better their lives.

  Me and My Mirror is dedicated to using ‘Mirror therapy’ to alleviate suffering caused by ‘phantom limb pain’ among amputees in impoverished areas across the world. Using a cargo bicycle and delivering acrylic mirrors to amputees in impoverished areas worldwide, Me and My Mirror aims to remove this painful daily challenge from an amputee’s life. Mirror therapy, developed in the 90’s, is a visualization technique requiring nothing but a mirror. It tricks the brain, causing it to re-map itself when the patient looks at a mirror image of his/her limb they no longer have. Most patients should be cured after about 5 weeks of therapy. With a tipping goal of $5,000 a plane ticket and first run of 200 mirrors can get distributed in Cambodia. 

  Let’s Celebrate! Recently Tipped Campaigns…

Ageless interAction brings the sexy back into aging. Ageless interAction helps young adults understand the aging process, combating structural age segregation. This allows friendships to blossom based on common interests rather than age. Utilizing the energy and potential of local high school and college students, Ageless interAction strives to show older adults they are important, loved, and relevant by giving them the chance to interact with people who care. Reaching the $1,300 tipping point now means Ageless interAction can incorporate as a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization in Atlanta, Georgia. And, with over a month still left in the campaign, reaching $5,000 will mean recruiting more students, investing in Ageless Activities such as Ageless GameNight, and creating a strong online presence with the Ageless Point System.

The Dignity Farm Tropical Rainforest Reforestation project aims to create a practical model for long-term investing via endangered trees. This pilot program will be hosted in Belize, chosen for its ample habitat and high quality tropical hardwoods. It will be modeled off of other successful reforestation projects that are thriving in Costa Rica, Columbia, and other areas of Belize. Dignity Farm’s Tropical Rainforest Reforestation project will be a viable model for long-term investing because it will grow commercially valuable and fast-growing trees that are currently disappearing from the wild. The project raise $4,091 which will cover travel expenses, land costs, taxes, seeding, and labor to plant the first acre of trees.

    Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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