Restoring Japan from 3.11 Hope from Young Social Leaders and Social Innovation

Madre Bonita

Hi, my name is Maco Yoshioka from MadreBonita. I had a great time in Seattle last summer. So I’m glad to meet you again in the situation like this.

Honestly I have been feeling some kind of helplessness. Living in Tokyo, watching my friends moving to Tohoku and involved in emergency support, what we could do seemed so little. But interacting with young

leaders and iLEAP program in Seattle gave me a lot of inspirations. Here is the story.

Madre Bonita is supporting mothers’ mental & physical healthcare.

Providing a holistic fitness program designed for women after childbirth.

Not only for the physical fitness but also for the mental wellness of mothers .

Now you are watching mothers with big smiles.

Today I ask you please not to take their smiles for granted.and I would like to share some issues with you.

There is a paradox.

There is a paradox concerning childbirth in Japan.

When you have a baby. First thing you hear is Congratulations.

Neonatal deaths per1000

Somalia(61)

Congo(56)

Pakistan(53)

Japan(1)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

per1000

And This graph shows that we can give birth safely in Japan.With good sanitation and medical treatment.

Not so simple

But things are not so simple.

100,000/year suffer from postpartum depression.

Every year in Japan 100,000 mothers suffer from postpartum depression within a year after childbirth. That is 10% of all mothers with babies under 12months.

80% feel I was nealy

there.80% said I was nearly there even though I wasn’t diagnosed as depression.

So many mothers are living on the edge with little babies in their hands.

QUESTION What would you do

if your best friend told you that she abused her baby?

Now I would like to ask you a question. What would you do if your best friend told you that she abused her baby? You don’t want to believe it. But…What can you do to help her?

What could’ve been done to prevent it?

60% 　

child abuse victims

babies under 12 month

Actually 60% of the child abuse victims reported are babies under 12 month.Such a heart breaking news.

So this is not somebody else’s problem. This is what Madre Bonita is tackling.

To bring solutions you have to find the reason causing the problem. Now please listen to my story.

1998 March

In 1998 I gave birth to my little son. Now that I am a mother of a teenager.I still remember the hardest time I had. A year after childbirth.

1998 AprilThe doctor told me the baby was growing well so there is nothing to worry about.

But I myself was feeling very unstable and exhausted. Everyone’s attention was concentrated on the baby. The mother was left alone with pressures and fatigue.

1. Had never been informed

2. No system for mothers

I was surprised for 2 reasons. First of all because I had never been informed I was going to be like this.

It was never taught at school. It's all hidden. Secondly because there is no system for mothers to stay healthy.

maternal healthcare paid at public expense

mother

Pregnancy

Birth

BABYWhen you look at the Japanese maternal healthcare paid at public expense.For expectant mothers free parenting class,

regular checkups, a lot of information.The National Health Insurance takes care of the cost of birth.For babies free immunizations, free checkups, free medical care.But there is almost nothing for mothers.

Never blame mothers.

So it is wrong to blame mothers for depression or child abuse.

UnderstandingProfessional support

Social supportLack of understanding lack of professional or social support are causing such problems.

That’s I found out 14 years ago.

Holistic fitness program for

mothers after childbirth

Here is how we support mothers. We have a network of certified trainers in 9 prefectures from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

50 classes are held every week.

3.11

Then 3.11. I was at home in Tokyo.Some classes were held just before the earthquake.Some couldn’t go home and stayed at friends’ place.

Even in Tokyo we were full of stress and tense.

1. Meet someone

2. Talk3. Exercise

Gradually we found what mothers and babies needed to relieve tense. Meet someone, talk, exercise. So we held classes as usual offering such opportunities. But not yet in Tohoku.

We asked our alumni for donations and collected leg warmers and belly warmers to send.Warming legs and belly prevents complications of pregnancy.

Helplessness

But as I said I was feeling so helpless. Madre Bonita was accepting mothers evacuating from Tohoku to take our program for free.

But in the early stage mothers from Tohoku were reluctant to join. Someone advised me that they were not ready.

6 months later

6 months later. we were beginning to meet mothers from Tohoku in our classes. And watching them restoring their energy was so empowering to us

Nana Suzuki（ 31）

from Fukushima

In August we met a woman from Fukushima who joined our program. Her name is Nana Suzuki, mother of 2 children.

She evacuated to Tokyo and gave birth to the second child just after the earthquake.

When Nana came to our class she said she was amazed at the effect of the program.Her stiff body was relaxed and the stress was relieved.

The best thing was that she could smile more to children, she said.

She started to think if she became a trainer, she could bring back this amazing program to Fukushima

where such program doesn’t exist yet.

Nana

Although she lost her job in Fukushima she encountered a new job that she can really be passionate about.

Scholarship program

So we decided to launch a scholarship program for trainer’s training in Tohoku.Nana is the first scholarship student.

Online Training course

• Skype • You Tube • Google docs • facebook

group • Dropbox • • • MadreBonita has an online training course utilizing various IT technology.

So even if you live in Iwate or Miyagi you can train at home.

Madre CaravanIn Tohoku

Nana has started training in Feburuary and we are trying to find the next candidate in Tohoku area. Starting from April we are planning Madre caravan offering our program

in temporary housing area in Tohoku hoping to meet the next candidates.Part of the cost of this caravan is financed by The Japanese Disaster Relief Fund – Boston.

Kato-san from World in Asia supported the whole process of applying for the grant.

Since mothers and babies tend to be the last to be looked after because their voices are not very loud. we are really impressed that people from overseas pay attention to mothers and babies in Tohoku

and understand the strong needs to support them to empower themselves.

Thank you so much for this opportunity and all your support !

Madre Bonita

A year has passed. What we need to do on this phase is to believe their power and support them to stand on their feet. This might be a small step but I believe the power of an individual

who will be making a big impact. and the power of connecting each other with strong bond. We are looking forward to sharing the process and results of our project.

Thank you so much for this opportunity and all your support !