Our Life in Sweden

Jonathan & Sofia Morgan

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Month: August 2011

When do we leave?

Our flights are booked for the 20th September, so we’ll be arriving in Cape Town on the 21st.

Before that we have to get our visas sorted out, which means getting:

  • A doctors letter attesting to our general good health
  • A chest x-ray and radiological report (to prove we don’t have TB)
  • A Police Clearance Certificate
  • Passport photographs

I’m not entirely sure why we need to prove we’re TB free when South Africa has such a high incidence of TB, but maybe it has something to do with resistant strains.

Blackberry Update: Earlier this week, we made an appeal for any Blackberry phones that you might not want. We’ve had one donation so far (thankyou!), so we’re just asking for one more.

Another way you could help: Donate a Blackberry


When we wrote a few weeks ago we mentioned three ways you could help. Well, we’ve just found another one:

The team we will be working with all use Blackberry mobile phones, and their built-in BBM service, to message each other free-of-charge. This saves the organisation and its volunteers a lot of cash, as mobile credit is expensive in South Africa.

“How does this involve me?” I hear you ask…

I know that some of you, our dear website, Twitter and Facebook followers are gadget people, and that after upgrading to your latest iPhone or HTC, you may have an unused Blackberry phone just laying around somewhere that you’d be happy to donate to us.

If that’s you, please get in touch!

Maternal mortality quadruples in South Africa

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just released a report outlining the grave state of healthcare for pregnant women in South Africa. Recent statistics show that four times as many mothers are dying while giving birth, or from birth-related causes, than did so just over 10 years ago.

HRW have been researching this issue in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. Here’s what they report:

In the course of our research, women told Human Rights Watch that they were physically and verbally abused, including pinching, slapping and rough handling during labour. They also described treatment delays; nurses who ignored calls for help; and health facilities that failed to deal appropriately with pregnancy or childbirth-related problems. Women were also left unattended for long periods after delivery, discharged too soon or sent home without pain medication or antibiotics, sometimes after Caesarean births, and refused admission, even when they were clearly in labour.

Women also described widespread verbal abuse. They said that when they sought care for pregnancy, nurses taunted them about enjoying sex or berated them for getting pregnant knowing they were HIV-positive, or told them they did not deserve care because they were migrants. Others said that nurses ridiculed women when they said they were having labour pains or pleaded for assistance. Some also noted that hospital workers demanded bribes or gifts.

To learn more about this shocking report, visit Human Rights Watch

Baby Safe i Värnamo Nyheter

Sofia on the Radio

Sofia was on Radio P4 Jönköping today talking about The Babysafe and the work that we will be involved with when we move to South Africa in September. If you understand Swedish, you can listen to it by clicking here (the interview starts 13 minutes in).

Sofia var på Radio P4 Jönköping idag – ni kan lyssna här (det borja efter 13 minuter)

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