I meet amazing and influential people almost every day, but in 2006 I met a little girl and her mother that changed how I see the world. In January of that year I had finished my 2 year teaching contract in Taipei City, Taiwan and had embarked on a 2 month journey through South East Asia. When I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia I met a young boy and his very unhappy sister. He was selling pirated books on the street to tourists and taking care of his baby sister. His English was pretty good so I asked him what was wrong with the little girl; he told me she was hungry. Having a soft spot for children I picked up the little girl and fell in love with her. She was so sweet and so beautiful. Over my week stay I met their mother and learned that she was my age at the time, so 26 and had 7 children the youngest being about 1 month old. She also told me her husband lost his leg and eye sight due to a landmine.
She didn’t feel sorry for herself or her situation instead she embraced life and was happy to be alive. Every night she would sit with her children on the road and watch her husband’s band of landmine victims play to tourist and collect money. By the end of my stay I had visited the mother and the little girl almost every day. When I was saying good bye I asked what I could do to help. She didn’t ask for money all she asked for was baby formula so the little girl I fell in love with could grow healthy. I purchased 3 tins of formula and didn’t think much of the impact the formula would actually have until later in my life. Today I know baby formula could be the difference between life and death.
The first Christmas after I moved back to Canada my sister made a donation in my name to UNICEF for Baby Formula to go to someone in need. Once again baby formula was crossing paths with my life and I needed to figure out why because I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.
I did some research on baby formula and 3rd World Countries and some of the things I read were pretty scary, such as the risk of life threatening diarrhoea due to mixing the formula with contaminated water. Large organizations such as UNICEF have taken amazing strides in educating women for safer practices. I know we often think that 3rd world countries are so desperate for help from amazing countries like Canada that we forget to look at the problems we have in our backyard.
In 2009 when I first launched BOBA an interesting event happened that began to bridge the gap between my idea and reality. One spring day I was exhausted and in need of some serious “me” time, so I took the day off from work. While I was eating lunch and watching the news at noon, Austin Delaney from CTV was doing a segment on Black Market baby formula. He reported that baby formula was a hot commodity on the black market scene because it is expensive and as quoted in a Star.com article - Dr. Deborah O'Connor, director of clinical dietetics at the Hospital for Sick Children, says feeding a baby is very expensive. "For families with low income, it can make a hole in the wallet."
So from that very moment of eating lunch while watching Austin Delaney, the bridge was built and PROJECT FORMULA came to life. I made the decision that a portion of the proceeds from sales at BOBA would go towards purchasing baby formula for women in need. If you follow my blogs you will know that BOBA has been a work in progress over the past year. 2010 has already been a very exciting year and fall of this year will mark the official launch of PROJECT FORMULA.
I share this story with you as my commitment to help Canadian women feed the future stars of Canada. A mother should never have to panic about how she is going to pay to feed her baby and most importantly proper nutrition is essential for the growth and development of babies.
Stay tuned for the launch of the new babyonboardapparel.com website and be sure to visit us at the following shows.
Family-a-Fair – Calgary, Alberta March 26 & 27 Booth 120
Spring Moma & Chicks Show – Oshawa, Ontario April 16
Shop for Baby – Toronto, Ontario April 25
For the Love of Fashion and our future stars,
xoxo aLi. M.
ps. here are some pictures from Cambodia including that beautiful little girl.
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