A note from two girls in a garage in Bondi
Today, I’m going to take a step back from the usual programming of this blog to come to you with a more personal update. What could be more personal than sharing the pregnancy and birth stories of vulnerable, powerful women? This.
At some point in the last week, I’ve honestly lost track of what day it is, Kale and I decided to put our minds and bodies to good use for once in our damn lives. It’s a time of great pain and suffering for our national family and that didn’t sit well with us. We came together to discuss how and what we could do to be of help to those that needed us.
Since we founded HGA, less than twelve months ago, we’ve had a very specific purpose. Everything we do is driven by the desire to help suffering women whose pregnancies are wreaking havoc on their mind, body and life. We are a very small organisation, with just two people at the helm, and so we knew that doing anything beyond our primary scope was not feasible. We thought we would try and track down any sick and pregnant women who may be displaced by the fires. We knew that we had the skills to help them, as that is what we do day in and day out. So, we put the call out on social media and waited.
Then we thought maybe we could help another fabulously mum-focussed business, Bump Day Spa, who are doing a donation drive. What is something busy mums struggle with? Time. Okay, so let’s jump in the car and drive around Sydney collecting donation items from mums who are just too busy with the juggle to make the drop themselves. Next thing we know we’ve got thirty people who want us to come and grab stuff from them. Which is amazing - but, we think, that’s the end.
Oh, dear reader, how wrong we were! After receiving a message about a mum with HG we mobilise to a level we didn’t know we had in us. This mum is six months pregnant and has a two-year-old and a husband and a house decimated by fire. We put out another call and were flooded with offers of donations. People started sharing our stories about this mum and her family - we go a little bit viral.
Suddenly, we have more stuff than we know what to do with. Enough stuff to completely clothe our HG mama, her family and the entire population of a small European country. As all women, and particularly mothers, often do we started asking ourselves how we could be doing more. So, a well-placed call to a friend of mine led us to the Waminda South Coast Women's Health and Welfare Aboriginal Corporation. We offered to help them round up supplies for First Nations families affected by the fires. And then we asked for help one last time.
There are not enough blog posts in the world to cover what happened next. Kale and I have been in tears almost hourly because of the spirit, kindness, generosity and gumption of the women in this community. In just twenty-four hours we amassed:
62 packs of nappies
95 roll-on deodorants
106 packets of baby wipes
300 pouches of baby food
32 tins of formula
40 packets of pads
25 packs of tampons
30 boxes of dummies
35 tubes of nappy cream
64 tubes of toothpaste
60 adult and 30 kids toothbrushes
90 P2 masks
21 kids backpacks
8 women’s bags
36 bottles
25 Ventolin puffers
20 bottles of body wash
10 bottles of shampoo and conditioner
This is a staggering volume that continues to grow hourly. It seems impossible to imagine but when you are sitting in Kale’s tiny garage physically counting each item the enormity really hits home. And then it literally hits you as a wall of stacked nappy packs falls on your head.
We’ve also been really lucky to have three amazing brands reach out to us to offer bulk supplies. Oli6 formula, Powerpants by BHAM and Rascal + Friends nappies have given us so much of their stock we could cry. Oh, wait, we *did* cry.
And as if all that wasn't enough we've had cash donations flow in from around the world. America, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand - we see you, and we feel your love. These donations, made to the charity but intended to support bushfire victims, have gone straight into buying some of the items listed above.
If you’ve seen our social media in the last 24-hours you will know that we’ve asked for everyone to hit pause on sending any more deliveries. This was a really difficult call to make because we know that nothing we do will be enough. We know that this disaster will rage on for months and months and that our supplies will run out long before anyone has a home rebuilt. But we have to stay true to the reason we started HGA. We need to get back to supporting sick women and doing the work we are good at.
We’ve gained a crazy amount of new followers over the last few days. Like, proper crazy. And we know that as the weeks go on we will lose many of you newbies. We understand that what we do is niche. If you, or someone you love, hasn’t suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum or nausea and vomiting in pregnancy you probably don’t know why we have such a long stupid name for our charity. You’re probably going to be confused when our regular social media programming starts up again. And that’s okay. This organisation was not founded for likes or follows. We know that the people who need us will find us and follow us. And if that’s not you then thanks for tuning in, helping out, and being with us for this time.
It would be remiss of us not to give you alternate avenues to channel your support for those whose lives have been ripped open by these fires. Please consider the following places if you still have a desire to give:
There are so many organisations we could list, but we’ve chosen to highlight some that maybe aren’t hitting the mainstream as much as others.
Thank you again for everything. We are humbled, overwhelmed, sweaty, oily, ecstatic - all the feels all of the time. We will be spending the next few days regrouping and taking stock - literally and metaphorically. But we will be back with our HG programming mid-next week.
Until then - take care.
Caitlin + Kale.