More than 65,000 women in Uganda have been able to deliver babies more safely, thanks to an effort led by a Chatham-Kent native.
On Saturday, Christina Hassan, nee Marchand, who grew up outside of Thamesville, and her husband Hyder Hassan, will be in Nairobi, Kenya to be recognized for creating FullSoul Canada, a non-profit organization that provides maternal medical kits to 10 hospitals in Uganda that have helped women have safer births and decrease HIV transmission.
The couple, who live in Calgary, have been selected by Rotary International as People of Action Young Innovators and will be presenting their work at Rotary Day at the United Nations Day.
Calling the 65,000 women impacted by FullSoul “a conservative estimate,” Christina Hassan, 28, was prompted to take action after seeing her first birth ever while at a Ugandan hospital for a co-op term in 2013, while completing her Bachelor of Science at the University of Waterloo.
“I didn’t really know what to expect when I went over,” she said.
“I’d never seen a birth before in Canada so just the birthing process, itself, was an experience,” she added.
Noting there were situations less than ideal for giving birth, including women lying on the ground, Hassan recalled the first birth she saw, the mother named Alice, passed away.
Christina Hasson, nee Marchand, founder of FullSoul Canada, is pictured here with Uganda volunteers with the program. (Handout/Chatham Daily News)
“It was really shocking for me,” she said.
Hassan recalled feeling she had two options at that moment – one being to keep her head down for the next two months and just get home as soon as possible.
“The other option was try to see if I could learn more . . . or understand the problems a bit more, and see if there was anything that I could do or . . . that I could help with.”
Hassan credits her experience with Rotary, which began as a Rotary Youth Exchange student while in Grade 10 at Ursuline College Chatham, being sent to Germany.
She cited her relationship with “Rotarian people of action who are leaders in the community and want to make communities better, and also the international communities better.”
Hassan said that network was very powerful when she came home and was able to share her story with different Rotarians.
She added the University of Waterloo also rallied behind the cause at the beginning to help share the story more broadly as well as provide support.
The program has expanded from three hospitals to 10, which includes three Ugandans working on FullSoul along with three interns. There is also a team of 14 volunteers in Canada working on the project.
“We’re working to grow to all corners of Uganda if we’re able,” Hassan said, adding they would like to see it someday expand into other African countries.
She credits the growth to “a lot of passionate people who want to make a difference,” along with Rotary funding.
She added obtaining matching grants through the federal and provincial governments has also made a difference.
Hassan said the name FullSoul came from a conversation with her husband.
“We discussed how we believed in acting soulfully,” she said. “About the human soul being what makes us all unique and also the same.
“And then FullSoul was born from that conversation.”
Hassan will be joined in Nairobi by her mother Annette Marchand, who is a member of Chatham Sunrise Rotary Club, and her father Don Marchand.
The Marchands went on a trip to Uganda with their daughter and fellow Chatham Sunrise Rotary members Doug and Linda Goldsmith in early 2017. Their experiences are featured in a YouTube video – that highlights the work of FullSoul.
“It’s a very emotional trip when we have people coming to Uganda to experience it,” Hassan said. “It’s emotional because there’s a need, it’s emotional because the people are so welcoming and open and giving.”
She admits there are time she returns to Uganda and feels the need to try do even more. In fact, Hassan said she is currently putting in about 30 hours a week to the program while close to earning a law degree from the University of Calgary.
But, seeing where FullSoul is at today, Hassan said, “It’s been a lot of work, but it’s also been very rewarding.”
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November 06, 2018
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