"This Moment" - A Friday ritual. 
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. What is your moment? Inspired by Soulemama

A Hungarian Doula...

Hello Everyone!
For all that don't know this about me, I'm the Membership Coordinator for the National Childbirth Trust in our area. This is a cause very dear to my heart, as choice in childbirth and support during this time and the time surrounding it are, to me, vital.
I am originally from Hungary (though born in Australia).
I received an e-mail today from an old friend back home in Hungary asking for help. For a little background info, Hungary was a communist-bloc country up until 1989 and has been striving ferociously ever since to regain some of it's economical status that was depleted to almost nothing during the Communist years. So finances, although better than they were then, are still very thin on the ground (part of the reason I moved countries years ago-there was absolutely no way of making a living at the time).
A lot of what we call 'western' ideas had been unknown to anyone in communist-bloc countries so the thought of any choice in childbirth was-and for the huge part-still is unknown. I have heard many a horror story (to my 'western' ears anyway!) about childbirth at home from cousins, aunts etc. So when my friend told me his wife is one of the very few women in Hungary wanting choice, and change, and training as an actual Doula, my heart jumped for joy.
Reka Dezsi has a blog where she details her experiences-although in Hungarian (google translator does big chunks at a time if you're interested :)) called Holdanya (MoonMother).
Reka has been invited to the USA (Albuquerque)for a huge Doula training event (by DONA International) in the beginning of August, but obviously, needs to be able to fund this in order to make the trip (international travel is a huge deal from Hungary to most people). She & her husband have asked for my help, in order to possibly see if anyone could make a donation to Reka's travel fund. Any,any little would help (I'm talking even £1 here!). The details to make a direct transfer (account details) are posted at the top of her blog. If there's anything further I personally can help with in regard to this worthy cause, please let me know. For now-thank you for reading, and thank you even more if you pass this on to otehrs or are moved to help with a donation. I will keep you updated on Reka's progress! Much love! :))

Family

I spent the latter teenage and majority of my twenties in countries away from my family. This was really hard. I am a very family-oriented person and not being able to speak to them whenever I want physically hurt. I missed everything-from laughing with Nagyi (my maternal grandmother) to sharing morning espressos with my Dad..but it had to be done. The bottom line of it was I needed a job. Or two. So I had to go. Different countries, different places..
And then it got easier, as the years went by I tried really hard to concentrate on where I was and forging new links around me. When I met Mr D I finally felt the seeds of a new little family unit were being sown. Being away, though still heart-wrenching at times (I wanted to share so much with them face to face!) became a little bit more bearable.
Then Tiny D was born and the desire to be with these amazing people and roots to my-and Tiny D's-past grew even more. We talked about moving to Hungary (Mr D feels as at home there as I do,it's a beauty to behold). However, making a living is the crux of it all, so until we felt we could do that there the plan was on the back burner..so we made do with visits. That ended too soon!
After a series of events, my sister (the Middle One-there are three of us) moved to the UK as well. We're about 5 hours drive from each other, which is amazing. Reenie and her husband had their first little baby earlier this year (my beautiful godson-Tiny B) so it's extra-nice for the two cousins to spend time together every couple of months, as opposed to once a year etc. I love having them nearby.
THEN my mum moved here-literally into the same town as me. So unexpected! This has been great, you absolutely never ever get over being away from your mum, the person who has known you since the very first moment. Regardless of misunderstandings and arguments (being far too similar doesn't help!), you still turn to your mum when you need a shoulder. To cry on, to laugh on, to share on.
So after weeks of being 'too busy', I bit the bullet, accepted the invitation and went across to mum's last night for dinner with Mr & Tiny D. It was great. We had great talks, lots of laughs (Mr D is very silly) and as we were leaving Tiny D burst into those floods of can't-breathe-I'm-crying-so-much tears at the thought of leaving Nanny. We all just melted. At the end of the day, being so close after years of distance can be hard to get used to again, but the essence of it all, the underlying bond, the love, is always there. You will rarely find anything to replace this. And I am so happy Tiny D has already realised this for her little tear-stained self.