20
Gulf Pine Catholic
•
June 3, 2016
Nativity teacher’s assistant to spend part of
summer teaching nursing techniques to refugee
mothers
Story and photo
BY TERRY DICKSON
BILOXI -- Bianca Wooden, a teacher’s assistant at
Nativity BVM Elementary School, will spend a portion
of her summer at a refugee camp on the Greece/Mace-
donia border to teach feeding techniques to mothers of
infants.
Wooden’s trip is sponsored by Nurture Project In-
ternational.
The camp where she will be stationed is called EKO
because it’s located next to a gas station of the same
name.
“It took me forever to figure that out because I was
looking for a city of the same name,” said Wooden.
Wooden said the majority of the refugees living in
Camp EKO are from Syria. However, there are also
some from Iraq and Afghanistan. They number in the
thousands.
Until they reach the age of six months, Wooden ex-
plained, the only nourishment children receive is from
milk or formula.
“In the United States, most women want to breast-
feed, but a lot of them have problems or have to use
formula,” she said.
“There are risks involved. They say ‘breast is best,’
but usually it works out for the kids.”
Wooden said there are more serious risks involved
with giving formula to babies in refugee camps.
“First of all, they don’t have a way to clean bottles,
so that’s a serious problem, and they don’t have a way
to give formula,” she said.
“So, it’s really critical in a refugee situation -- and
the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Save the
Children have done all kinds of research and guidelines
on this -- that the mothers are successful at breastfeed-
ing because that’s the best way to keep their babies
from getting sick. Specifically, if they get diarrhea from
an intestinal problem, babies can die easily from that.
So, I’m specifically going to support moms with breast-
feeding, encourage them and give them basic tips.”
This is something Wooden already does on a local
level as a volunteer with La Leche League.
“That’s a non-profit that has been around since the
1950s and they named it that because, in the 50s, you
couldn’t say ‘breastfeeding.’ So they came up with a
little code word” she said.
“We have support groups here and I help mothers all
the time. At the refugee camp, I’m going to be doing the
same thing but the work is going to be even more mis-
sion critical to keep the babies safe. Then, for the moms
who are giving formula or need to give formula, we
help them get safe formula that is made with clean wa-
ter that is prepackaged as a liquid. We also teach them
how to feed with a cup because a cup can be cleaned or
Nativity BVM Teacher’s Assistant Bianca Wooden
wiped out whereas a bottle can’t be cleaned very well,
unless you have hot water.”
Wooden learned about the opportunity on Facebook.
“I’ve never volunteered internationally or put much
thought into it,” she said.
“This organization had a little picture that said ‘We
need experienced lactation consultants’ and it showed
these moms and babies in tents and I felt like they were
talking to me.”
Wooden, who has five years of training under her
belt and is scheduled to take the exam to become a
board certified lactation consultant in October, talked
it over with her husband, Graham. The couple has two
daughters, Luci and Caprie, both students at Nativity.
Although she was reluctant to leave her children
and family behind, Wooden eventually decide that she
needed to make the trip.
“It was just calling to me, so I made the decision and
ran with it,” she said, adding that she has undergone ad-
ditional training to help her deal specifically with refu-
gees.
Wooden, plans on renting a car at the airport in
Thessaloniki and driving to the Macedonian border,
where she will stay in a house with other volunteers.
“There might be one or two people volunteering
with me at Nurture Project International, but I’ll be
staying with other volunteers from all over the world
working with different non-profits,” she said.
Wooden is paying her own way. However, she has
received many donations that have helped to defray her
travel expenses.
“I’ve received all variety of donations, from $5 to
$300 from friends and family,” she said.
To date, she has received almost $4,000 in dona-
tions, $700 of which was raised by Nativity School.
Wooden said she will donate any leftover money to
Nurture Project International, for the purchase of for-
mula, baby scales and tents.
Wooden said she was especially touched by the gen-
erosity of her Nativity family.
“They’re so wonderful,” she said.
“The school has made so many donations, so I re-
ally appreciate that they believe in me. I also love that
the kids are thinking about it. Even the little bitty ones
know that I’m going to help people that need help and
the bigger kids are having these deeper thoughts about
how do we help the people of the world when we have
wars, differences and language barriers.”
Las Misas Celebradas
en Español/ Masses
Celebrated in Spanish
Sábado/Saturday
Pascagoula: Sacred Heart Parish, 6 pm
Domingo/Sunday
Laurel: Immaculate Conception Parish,
4 pm
Hattiesburg: Sacred Heart Parish, 1:30 pm
Picayune: St. Charles Borromeo Parish,
7 pm
Gulfport: St. John the Evangelist Parish,
7:30 pm
Ocean Springs: St. Alphonsus Parish, 2 pm
Lunes/Monday
Biloxi: Our Lady of Fatima Parish, 6 pm
