Breakfast to celebrate, support mothers
³ûÖÊÓƵ’s Year 10 to 12 students and their mothers enjoyed a breakfast with a purpose ahead of Mothers’ Day.
Aminata Conteh-Biger was guest speaker at the event, where she shared share her story and acknowledged the joy of motherhood. She founded the Aminata Maternal Foundation, which aims to improve maternal health and birth conditions for women in Sierra Leone, after becoming a mother for the first time in 2012. Aminata was held captive by rebel forces during Sierra Leone’s civil war before becoming the country’s first refugee to make Australia her home.
Parents in attendance also made donations to help the organization provide pre and post-natal care for women through partnership with the Aberdeen Women’s Clinic in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, which performs fistula surgery on affected women. The Foundation also aims to reduce maternal deaths in the country which are at close to 2,500 per 100,000 births and one of the highest levels in the world.
“This is something close to my heart especially because it is not a disease we have to kill, it is just to give these women the tools to build their life,” Mrs Conteh-Biger said. “It is about us a women coming together and saying this should not be happening in the 21st century.
“A wise woman once said, ‘I come as one, I stand as 10,000. For me when I stand, I stand representative of my country, my homeland, and of women around the world.”