Mother’s Day is Sunday, and if you put a card in the mail right now, it might make it in time. But if you want to do something even faster that has a little more meaning, consider donating to Samahope‘s #HonorYourMom campaign, which provides medical treatments and supports safe births for mothers in developing countries.
Sons and daughters can go to the #HonorYourMom website, upload a photo of you and your mom along with a dedication explaining why she rules, and donate as little as $5. The photo and dedication will get its own URL that you can share, and your mom will also get a physical card in the mail.
Crowdfunding site Samahope was founded in 2011 by Samasource CEO Leila Janah, after a trip to Sierra Leone where she met OB/GYN Dr. Darius Maggi, who was struggling to fundraise for the 200+ surgeries he completes each year for women with debilitating birth injuries and complications.
“I thought, why doesn’t someone make a Kickstarter for surgeries? Who wouldn’t fund this saintly man right now, if they knew the work he was doing?” says Janah. “One of his patients drove this point home. Tiangay, a 16-year-old girl, had been in labor for five days in her hut, lost the baby, and then suffered a horrific birth injury that left her leaking urine and feces. Most girls like her spend the remainder of their lives quietly suffering. But I was inspired enough by her story that I went home and built the site with a friend. Tiangay received funding from 16 Samahope donors for her treatment, and after a short recovery, headed back to her village to re-enroll in school.”
The #HonorYourMom campaign will fund four doctors in Sierra Leone, Nepal, and Uganda, all of whom have treated thousands of mothers. Janah says that last year, the first year of #HonorYourMom, the campaign raised $30,000, which she hopes to beat this year. In 2013, Samahope raised $200,000 overall, which funded more than 80 safe births.