BRINGING HOPE TO MUMS-TO-BE

AS the Women in Media conference draws near, Bond University journalism students have interviewed and collaborated with Australia’s leading and most influential females.

I sat down with Walkley GREENHOUSE CANTEEN & BAR, MIAMI Restaurant that features a very Insta-worthy quote next to the street. Journalist Emma Macdonald has raised nearly $1m through her charity to help more women survive childbirth in the developing world

Award winner Emma Macdonald, and chatted all things charity, motherhood and the power of now.

Established shortly after the birth of her second child, Macdonald, alongside a doctor and an internet entrepreneur, set the charity up to raise funds to help more mothers survive childbirth in the developing world — Send Hope Not Flowers.

“With Send Hope, it was my one chance in life to actually throw my hat in the ring and say, ‘Yeah let’s try it’,” she said.

“We have raised nearly $1 million and are working across eight countries. I’m so glad we’ve done it.”

The initiative provides funding for medical equipment and supplies, educational resources for local doctors and midwives, and support for on-the-ground training of local health workers and village birth attendants.

One woman dies every two minutes from complications of childbirth – 98 per cent of these deaths take place in the developing world.

“Send Hope has given me so much more than I’ve given it,” Macdonald says.

“I can’t even really express it but to be able to make a difference to a mother and baby in a country where they are so up against it, it’s a fantastic feeling – it’s absolutely amazing.”