Today we interview doula Jesusa Ricoy Olariaga and we do it on the occasion of the birth of an initiative that in four days of life is mobilizing huge forces and many, many women from all over the world, united by motherhood and against injustice, moved by the Habiba case and exultant for what has been achieved , who have committed to continue working to help those who suffer discrimination or persecution for their ideas about parenting.
The truth is that, although in this interview I want us to talk about A.L.M.A., the newly born international organization that Jesusa "baptized" and on a joyful night, the night in which Alma, Habiba's little daughter, returned to her mother's arms, there will be more conversations with Jesusa. I have a lot to talk to her and since I always learn a lot when I do, I want to share it with you too.
SOUL. means All Loving Mothers Association. And it is also in the name of Habiba's daughter.
How was the idea of creating A.L.M.A born?
The idea was born of euphoria and necessity. When we received the news on Facebook after 22 long days of tension that Habiba and Alma were together, it was an incredible experience. There was a lonely and silent party in my kitchen, Facebook notifications were superimposed on the laptop screen.
15,000 people from all over the world, a team of women in Spain via Google Groups and another in the United States and United Kingdom in a working group on Facebook, we cried typing on par ...
After this, an hour after repeating the jubilation in writing over and over again, I realized everything we had generated and accumulated in the last 22 days. Passionate women had come together without remembering how or when, women united by motherhood and against injustice, we had phones and emails from politicians, actors, writers, doctors from all over the world. Documents in several languages, pages on Facebook, twitter and two blogs, a song, poems, manifestations. All that and everything we had planned in case the nightmare lengthened.
So, with a thought out loud, I got into the English-speaking group with whom I had shared several sleepless nights and even an interview on a Texas radio and proposed A.L.M.A. explaining that the name was a tribute to Habiba and Alma and all the mothers who had risen to protect them and thus protect their families and what they believe. They all put their thumbs up on Facebook and before I knew it it was already a collective project and they were all creating and working like crazy, almost as if we had just taken a short break and returned to action. I think that with the case of Habiba, we were all shocked that it could be put in writing and that someone could be judged or accused for their maternal instinct and for the healthy practices that many of us carry out with our children. We also realized that we are socially sectarianized, but that in reality we are a large group of mothers and fathers with a very similar way of understanding parenting, we are not alone, nor are we a sect and curiously we have a lot of scientific evidence on our part. So the time has come to mark a line of not allowing such doubts or judgments about whether we can breastfeed until our babies want, or give birth at home or collect, are acceptable and normal. Making women especially vulnerable to reach a situation as extreme as what happened with Habiba.
Who initially promoted it?
A fantastic team of 16 women of various nationalities and in different places, Canada, USA and United Kingdom.
What are your goals?
Join efforts and make the most of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to protect individuals who are suffering from intolerable or extreme situations of discrimination or social or legal helplessness because of their way of understanding and applying their respectful pregnancy, birth or upbringing. Making these situations public and activating our worldwide network of volunteers that in just 4 days reaches 200 and has translators, lawyers, sociologists, artists, etc ... while we contact allied professionals and associations.
Basically we will repeat the strategies used with the Habiba case but with a long-term organization and approach.
How are you going to work?
ALMA Spain will be a kind of global ALMA branch, it will focus on the specific and necessary actions in Spain supporting local actions on the one hand and creating an educational and awareness network, precisely to prevent professionals from making decisions like the one taken in the Habiba's case. Since we only have 4 days of life and it has been necessary to create and operate simultaneously, there is a basic profile but there are still details to be specified as we work.
What actions will you take?
Probably globally investigate and assist in specific cases of loss of custody. For example, we have already started working on the case of Domenic Johansson in Sweden, a boy who was literally separated from his parents while boarding a plane and by civilian policemen, has been separated from his parents for two years, the few accusations so far have was to educate at home, legal thing in Sweden at that time, and to be a child too affectionate and affectionate with other children. This is a case that, as in Habiba's, many people repeat that "there must be something else".
In ALMA (Spain) we have an immediate general objective that is to correct what has led an institution to commit such an outrage and some other case that has come to us and which will be handled by small groups of volunteers grouped by their professions, for example a lawyer and a lactation counselor to help in a shared custody case where breastfeeding is not being considered.
What to do to collaborate?
Spread the word, support us, act, follow us on twitter, on Facebook and if you think you can help send an email to [email protected] telling us how.
We need professionals (lawyers, social workers, psychiatrists ...) to help us know and understand the processes and protocols by which social services are governed in cases such as those we are seeing to do two things: on the one hand propose effective actions in specific cases and on the other hand, detect where the fault in the gear of the protection system is that leaves so many unprotected.
Introduce us to A.L.M.A.
ALMA is a Global Action Network that protects the rights of families to remain united. We focus especially on protecting mothers who are persecuted, judged or discriminated against for their decisions of respectful parenting and instinctive motherhood. After the case of Habiba and Alma became public, other cases have come to light. It seems clear to us that certain ways of raising that are also very healthy, such as breastfeeding and schooling, are being penalized by social services and in some ways by society.
We have proven that we can fight and win.
The truth is that I have long wanted interview Jesusa Ricoy, whom I met virtually after discovering his blog. He is a person with enormous strength and charisma, which is followed and read by thousands of women. He is Spanish and lives in London. She is the mother of two children she educates at home, she is currently waiting for her third baby. She works as a doula and childbirth educator (perinatal educator), she is the creator of the support network Listening with her heart and collaborates with its equivalent in the United Kingdom, Birth Crisis, founded by Sheila Kitzinger. She is also a specialist in placental encapsulation and author of several articles on childbirth and maternity.
It has been a pleasure interview Jesusa Ricoy Olariaga and listen to her tell me how this beautiful project was born that is already very strong. I hope you get excited as my SOUL has come to me, an organization that is born so that no mother goes through the Calvary that has happened Habiba and I encourage you to visit the pages of the organization for both Spain and the international and to volunteer to collaborate. We already know that together we can achieve what we set out to do.
In Babies and more | We are all Habiba !, Does the Madrid Institute for Children and the Family prohibit breastfeeding children ?, "No one respects the needs of another person without knowing them." Interview with the psychologist Teresa Garcia, "To be a father or mother they do not teach you." Interview with Teresa Garcia, an expert psychologist in Childhood Psychopathology., "We must totally change our productive system." Interview with Carlos González, "The events that happen in the primal stage are the most important in life." Interview with Enrique Blay (III), "I became a gynecologist with the clear idea of attending home deliveries." Interview with Dr. Emilio Santos (VI), "Some disabled people dare to have children," interviews the author of "Adapted Maternity," "It is a myth to say that the woman who breastfeeds cannot take medication." Interview with José María Paricio (II)
