Holy Family Maternity Hospital, Palestine, 2012.
In 2012 I was asked by an NGO to visit The Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, Palestine, where they run a maternity hospital aimed mainly at premature and problematic births. In doing so I broke down many cultural barriers. Being a male for one. Being a non family-member two. And being present at such an intimate stage of a woman's life. Culturally men are never present at births in Palestine. Both Muslim and Christian Palestinians usually have just their mother-in-law present at a birth because once married a woman becomes the responsibility of the husband's family. Having broken down many barriers with the culturally sensitive staff I then also gained the trust of several families who had women giving birth at the hospital. The resulting pictures helped to illustrate a report aimed at fundraising for the vital work which sees women travel hundreds of miles to have their babies at Holy Family. Families are means tested and asked to pay what is considered a 'fair donation' to the cost of their births. This enables women from all backgrounds access to the donor-funded state of the art equipment which the hospital has. Critically, for some women who come from desperately poor backgrounds, this gives them a completely free maternity service which they otherwise wouldn't have.