'The solution deserved more than just a Band-Aid'

For more than a decade, one local resident has taken her career and volunteering to a global level.

Although she was raised in Prince George, Shobha Sharma has always had a sense of the global community, something she said was her family's doing.

Sharma's mom was a teacher in India and had to get a degree here so she focused on aboriginal education as she attended the College of New Caledonia.

"We'd go to the CNC library and my mother would sit with me and read stories to me about the little children in the residential schools and I would cry," said Sharma.

This knowledge at such a young age offered a more global perspective for her.

Sharma went to UBC for her undergraduate degree in history, focusing on the impact of colonization on indigenous populations. When she met the chair of Free the Children, which is now the We Charity, she turned her energies to an internship in Toronto for two years and became their director of communications.

"During that process, I was always passionate about working with indigenous populations," said Sharma.

Working in Ontario, she worked with the Lieutenant Governor on the aboriginal coalition with rural communities to spearhead the program.

"I knew that the solution deserved more than just a band aid and I needed to immerse myself in understanding solutions so I went to do my masters in Victoria in indigenous governance," said Sharma. "Then for my masters thesis I traveled to India and that was the first time I spent time overseas in an immersed environment doing development work and it really changed my perspective on everything."

Sharma strongly believes success for any program comes from a global perspective.

"I believed in the need for social justice and understanding and linking to our global community," said Sharma. "Being in it, I really fell in love with it, and I think I always knew I would."

Sharma spent a decade in India following her passion.

After she got married and in anticipation of the birth of her son, she returned to Prince George.

Three days after her son was born, Sharma began having intense headaches and when she couldn't make her hand reach out to pick something up, she immediately went to hospital to get treatment. After arguing with doctors, trying to convince them she was seriously ill they sent her on her way. It wasn't 20 minutes after setting foot back in her home Sharma began having the first of six seizures and fell into unconsciousness.

"After giving birth we all clot but some women can fatally clot in their brains, lungs or heart and I was clotting in my brain," said Sharma.

Doctors discovered Sharma had three blood clots in her brain and had suffered a stroke so they put her in a medically induced coma to help her body heal.

In the meantime, Sharma was still a new mother and her baby boy needed her. It took her family to support her so she could keep nursing her child, something unheard of at the hospital for someone in her circumstances. She spent two weeks in hospital.

"I was absolutely lucky to walk away untouched and the one thing that I constantly thought of when I was in the ICU and regaining my ability to think again and to understand what had just happened was that there's women in communities in India that we were working with and thinking of these women's access to the type of care that I received. They don't have a lot but childbirth is the most dangerous undertaking no matter where you are in the world."

The women Sharma worked with through the years in India lack the basics of clean water and access to healthcare facilities.

"What often happens in primary care facilities in India is the people who are cleaning the floors after the doctors have left for the day are who are delivering these babies," said Sharma. "So if there are any complications, these women stand very little chance of surviving."

India has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world next to Nigeria, Sharma added.

During recovery from her own health crisis, Sharma was dreaming up ways to provide support.

From that came Our Satya, an international organization working in India to respond to the health and well-being of women and infants within impoverished conditions around the world, she said.

"Satya is a Sanskrit word that means being consistent in our thoughts, actions and words," said Sharma. "So acting and believing and speaking the same thing. Local, global it's all the same now as we've all learned to live in this small world together."

Currently, Our Satya is working with women and babies with the focus on maternal, infant health and wellness education. When Sharma was last in India, she brought doctors into villages to provide education about oral healthcare, HIV, breastfeeding and nutrition.

Sharing compassion is another component to Our Satya's focus where they provide a welcome kit to mothers, which is supported by the Prince George community. Every year, Sharma brings 100 kits to the women of India that includes a letter to the mother from a mother here.

"We're doing it here locally as well because there's need everywhere," said Sharma. She just received a thank you letter from the Prince George branch of the Elizabeth Fry Society.

Empowerment is also a component which comes from the women themselves, Sharma said.

Our Satya, a volunteer-based organization that has members from all over the world, created a documentary called Her Voice showcasing what millions of women in India go through without access to adequate health care during pregnancy.

With the support of the Indian government, Our Satya was able to bring work to the women in their own villages, rather than have them seek work outside their communities.

Some of the women really wanted to learn how to sew.

Relying on her Grade 8 sewing skills, Sharma started seeking ethical sources for material.

"We asked women to show us their skill levels to see what we could do," said Sharma. The women began making cloth bags and stylized knapsacks.

"They are paid hourly wages and during that time we have the opportunity to engage with them on an individual basis and really help them to build their confidence, build social skills as they never had an opportunity to engage and redirect them into health programming that we're working on," said Sharma.

On April 22, Our Satya is hosting an event called Her Vision at the HubSpace, 1299 Third Ave., which will include an information session, as well as food and mehndi, the traditional art of painting the hands with henna, and live music. There will be an opportunity for guests to purchase the bags and this event provides an interactive evening where people can learn about the global community in which they live.

For ticket information or general information contact Kellie Bullis at [email protected].

For more information visit www.oursatya.org.