It’s been a busy month for Rivka Cymbalist who has been fundraising and preparing for her upcoming trip to Greece.
Along with her luggage she’ll be taking a giant care package containing onesies, baby blankets and diapers.
It’s all part of her mission to assist pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in refugee camps in Greece.
Cymbalist is a veteran Doula and her job is to help pregnant women through pregnancy and childbirth.
Nearly 60,000 refugees are stranded in Greece, mostly Syrians. While they wait, life goes on.
Women are still giving birth.
“Even in the best of situations it’s still a really intense, life-changing, powerful event,” she said.
At the camps, she will teach women about breast-feeding and help them to cope with conflicting emotions they may have.
She was inspired to help after seeing terrifying images from the war in Syria.
“I was on the bus when the siege of Aleppo happened a few weeks ago and something just clicked and I thought those people in northern Greece could actually use a hand,” she said. “There are mothers and babies there and I know about mothers and babies so I need to go there and help out.”
She went online and applied to be a volunteer for the charity Nurture Project International which works in the camps in Northern Greece.
She’ll be there for three weeks and will help mothers and babies make a healthy transition.
Even though they may not speak the same language, Cymbalist says there’s a lot she can do non-verbally.
“I have videos that show breastfeeding so I can help a mother with breastfeeding without a lot of language.”
Cymbalist feels the need is great but it’s the little things that make all the difference.
“Any kind of stressful experience, when you have a companion who is non-judgmental, tolerant, there to serve you, it makes everything better,” she said.
