A message from Hungary!
A collective from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), a program launched in 2007 by ELTE and the Hungarian Society of Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (HSPPPM), extend the following invitation to join their Walk for the Quality of Birth and Birth-giving for any period of time at a location of your choice!
We are writing to you concerning our annual Walk for the Quality of Birth and Birth-giving, a case very dear to us. We have been walking for five years now, for one week every summer in Hungary from cities through towns to villages, and to our joy, our event is gaining more and more walkers and supporters.
This year is different and even more special, because we had this wonderful idea that we would like to reach out to our friends from outside our country borders and make this event international!
A little bit more about us and our aims:
We are a group of professionals from several fields – from midwives to obstetricians to psychologists to name a few, working with people in the perinatal period of their lives.
We have come together and are both professors and students from the perinatal consultant course of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), a program launched in 2007 of ELTE and the Hungarian Society of Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (HSPPPM).
The course offers
- a complex, holistic, humanistic view of the pre- and perinatal period, preparing its participants to assist people with problematic, but also healthy and natural conception, pregnancy, birth,
- and healthy ways of caring for the baby.
We have found in our line of work that
- the quality of birth has enormous significance in every society,
- and have seen that the best possible practices are not always kept, for instance, the WHO guidelines are not met in some of our institutions.
Therefore, we came up with the idea that we would like to make some calm but confident noise to help families and encourage other professionals to make the best of existing scientific knowledge about this sensitive period of life.
It has been five years that we have been walking for about a week every summer, visiting hospitals and on our way organise and participate in birth-related events, in order to spread the latest scientific knowledge helping mothers, babies and families in the pre- and perinatal period of their lives. Wherever we walk, we hold talks and welcome everyone from the youngest to the elderly, to join us for any period of time and share their own experience. We also seek opportunities to be able to initiate conversation with hospital staff at the places we walk by.
Our main goal is to give a voice to mothers, babies and families needs and to spread the importance of the WHO birth guidelines, including the recommended lower rates of cesarean birth, the importance of the golden hours, of breastfeeding, and the list could go on.
A little bit more about our invitation:
This year we are walking in June from the 21th to the 27th. We would like to welcome you into our program and invite you to walk with us for the quality of birth at your own location, at your chosen pace and rhythm, for a length you wish to walk! This might mean a few days of walking and event-planning, similar to our program, but might also mean one day, or even just one hour of walking for the quality of birth!
If you feel like joining us in spirit and take a walk for the Quality of Birth and Birth-
giving, we would love to
- receive some photos documenting the walk you are taking, the people and the atmosphere you meet and create! You can see some photos of our previous walks on our Facebook page
- there is also a tradition that we have concerning our Tree of Birth, which we have planted in 2014 at our university campus. Every year, we visit and honour this tree, symbolising ancient and new rituals, beliefs, tales and so much more relating to birth. It would be to our great joy if you felt like planting your own Tree of Birth – a ‘sibling’ to ours!
- please feel free to use our logo (Walk for the Quality of Birth tree) in any way on
flyers, T-shirts, temporary tattoos, or however you wish to!
Please contact varga.katalin@ppk.elte.hu if you have any questions.