Garment Industry

It’s been some time that I’ve been pondering this topic- not just about the garment industry, but about ethical consumerism in general. These conversations date back 10 years to debates with a friend about globalization and how the export of labor is just plain smart business. Topics followed such as thoughts about food security and conversations around buying local.

Two discussions really stuck in my mind above all others. The first was more than a discussion, more like a retreat at which was broached the topic of “love and concern for our neighbor” even if they lived on the other side of the world. The speaker used Gandi’s “non-violent” language to give a voice to the human beings around the world who suffer at our hands by the products we consume. He played through just a single morning- waking up to our alarm clock, lying in our 600 thread count bamboo sheets. And then the questions began: “ Where did that bamboo come from? Who sewed the sheets? What country do they live in? Are they poor, do they have hungry mouths to feed, do their kids go to school? Are they treated fairly in their work? Are they abused, wounded in the process? What about the metal used to hold your bed frame together? Where did it come from? Africa maybe? Who minded it? How many people have died in that mine? What do they get paid in a month? And on and on through just a single morning.

 It was overwhelming to walk through the start of a day like that- being faced with the reality that the vast majority of the items that we wear or are in our homes that we take for granted were made on the backs of someone we’ve never met- will never know. The speaker stepped back, reminding us not to be overcome by these things, but just to slowly be transformed, slowly changed and slowly come to see those people we’ve never met who harvest our coco-beans and our coffee and our diamonds as brothers and sisters.  But he closed with that reference to Gandhi in saying that by our naïve actions or inaction, we do violence to those people, and that’s wrong.

            The other was a conversation I had with a roommate I once had. She told me that her mother had taken a very strict stance on chocolate after she had read an article about the unethical practices that riddle the cocoa industry.  The article asked the reader to use their imagination, and picture a bloody handprint. Now, it said, picture that handprint on everything that you might purchase, that hurt someone in the process of its production. Imagine that chocolate bar with a bloody handprint wrapped around it. Not so appealing now is it. This same roommate inspired me with her own commitment to buying clothing that she knew was sewn ethically. She had a practice of asking the people at the till if they knew anything about where the garment was made. Most of the time, the answer was no- as has been the response in my own questioning at places like David’s Tea and Lululemon.

            These are hard topics with even harder more convoluted answers. Below is some of the reading that I’ve done and articles that I found. Mostly I’ve let the articles themselves do the talking by quoting pieces and then siting the URL address below.

            In these musings, I’ve realized that ignorance can really be bliss. Sometimes I don’t like how wide open my eyes have become to what the world is really like. But, it’s the better way. I fail miserably at abiding by the things I preach (for example, had a Nestcafe’ at the school cafeteria today- so much for my “Boycott Nestle’). But I’m trying, and my hope is that we all embrace a little more expanded horizon.

            This blog thought came about after making a trip to the Children’s and Women’s hospital which is right in the heart of one of the big garment sectors in Dhaka. Lots of the women seen at this hospital work in the garment industry. Almost all of them are dirt poor. Their jobs require them to work long shifts, often cutting their breastfeeding short, and leaving their kids at home. Many of them are widowed or have deadbeat husbands who left them. It’s a sad scene. And it made me think about the garment industry in general.

            In November 112 people died in a horrific factory fire. Since we’ve been here, there’s been more fires. This calls to question the safety standards and what the current political and ethical take on the matter is.  Below are articles about the fire, about Walmart’s unfortunate tie into all of it, about the empowerment of women, about globalization, and about what we can do as consumers.

In commenting about the Nov 2012 Fire:

“Nova also called Walmart’s role in the 2011 Dhaka meeting “especially revealing.” He described Walmart’s position as “1) We know these factories are unsafe. 2) We know it will cost substantial sums to make them safe. 3) We are not going to pay for this. 4) We are going to keep using the factories anyway.”

“Walmart’s greed and arrogance appear to be boundless,” said Nova. This is a company that siphons billions in subsidies from US taxpayers, that has made billions in profits on the backs of Bangladeshi workers, then scoffs at the notion that it should be asked to pay one dime to protect those workers from dying in factory fires while they sew Walmart clothes.”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/171628/documents-undermine-walmart-account-deadly-bangladesh-fire

"These are workers who make clothes for the world's leading brands, so it's expected that they should have international standards in these factories," he said. "But since 2006, 600 factory workers have died in fires like this one."

Bangladesh has about 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $20bn from exports of garment products, mainly to the US and Europe.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/11/201211266021814214.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/walmart-bangladesh-factory-fire_n_2244891.html

Testimonials of women who work in these factories:

“I have been working [here] for more than a year. Auditors visit the factory but there is no visible change in our working conditions [...] I have been having a constant leg pain since I joined. I have complained to the supervisors but have not got time off to see the doctor.”

“Throughout the interview of the workers conducted by the social auditor, management kept a strict vigil. I was not comfortable at all while conversing with the auditors. I was so scared by the management's presence that under pressure I even gave wrong answers.

So, just because a company says they do routine audits or investigations doesn’t actually mean that anything changes. It sounds good, people will buy it, but are changes actually being implemented or not? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Unfortunately I’d guess no is the more predominant answer.

Being ethical is trendy, just like being Green is trendy. I once asked Severn Suzuki- David Suzuki’s daughter what she thought about this. She said “go with whatever works!” If people are buying the local hemp t-shirt to be cool, they’re still buying the local hemp t-shirt. I had to agree. But, the problem comes when companies used these current terms like “ethical” and “fair trade” as solely marketing tools with no real outcomes behind them.

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/issues

            A blog by a woman who has spent months in Bangladesh trying to understand the industry and its effect on women:

“Women workers offer cheap, and easily exploited, labour force that allows the Bangladeshi garment industry to compete in the global market. While studies have shown that women’s employment in Bangladesh’s export-oriented garment industry has narrowed the gender gap in many spheres including participation in labour force, social prestige, control over income and decision making, there remains widespread gender discrimination in wage rates and social working conditions.”

“The most detrimental, and most tabooised, social impact of women’s

employment in the export-oriented garment industry of Bangladesh is sexual violence and abuse, which the female workers at the bottom of the assembly-line work-chains are a particular high-risk group. Dhaka Police reports have shown that whereas, female garment workers account for only two to three percent of the total population of women in the metropolitan area of Dhaka, whereas they account for 11 percent of rape cases. Besides the exploitative nature of their work, workplace and supervisors, this is partly due to their unsafe long commutes home to the poorer slum areas where they tend to reside. These rape cases make suicide rates among female garment factory workers shockingly high.”

            This is a great blog. She speaks from direct experience that isn’t tainted by an “industry” perspective. A lot of the arguments that are “pro” cheap labor speak to the fact that these women literally have NO other way of gaining an income. What’s better? Them starving to death, or them at least being able to make a little bit of money to keep themselves and their children alive. It’s a hard pill to swallow. The article below, “ in praise of cheap labor” speaks to this issue as well.

http://developmentinaction.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/the-garment-industry-in-bangladesh-from-a-womans-perspective/

            Thoughts on globalization- maybe there is a positive spin on it all? It’s an inevitable process- the exporting of cheap labor. It’s an unfortunate step towards growth and progress for any developing country. Look at China, or even India. China has changed SO much even in my lifetime. They are no longer considered a “developing nation” and India is close behind. They are now exporting a lot of their cheap labor to places like, well, unfortunately, Bangladesh.  It’s these poor countries that are lagging behind that make things even worse for them. There’s even more demand from more countries that have climbed the ladder and want cheap crap. Sad.

            I’ve heard rumors that countries like India are actually being encouraged (by big countries like the US) to keep neighboring countries (like Bangladesh) stunted enough so as to maintain a cheap labor market here. I believe it. But the most unfortunate piece is that is keeps this country on the cusp- it could go either way, becoming just another Afghanistan or rising up like China.

“Such moral outrage is common among the opponents of globalization--of the transfer of technology and capital from high-wage to low-wage countries and the resulting growth of labor-intensive Third World exports. These critics take it as a given that anyone with a good word for this process is naive or corrupt and, in either case, a de facto agent of global capital in its oppression of workers here and abroad.”

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/1997/03/in_praise_of_cheap_labor.html

            Bangladesh is considered one of the worst countries for standards in factories. Being here, we’ve observed only a small portion of the absolutely rampant corruption here. The stories are unbelievable. Stories of nice cars getting imported and on the delivery route somewhere the motor and all other parts get swapped out for pieces of junk. Stories of drivers funneling gas out of engines, selling it for 1/4^th the cost and then asking for more gas money.  There’s heaps of construction always going on here as well. Just last night Karen was telling us about concrete. She was talking to a guy about how to get your hands on good concrete. It’s cut and cut and cut and filler is added so many steps down the line that you have no idea what you’re actually getting in the end.

            Because of the corruption, it’s hard to put the sole blame on big companies. So you invest 20M in redoing the wiring in some factory. Is it really plausible that that money is actually going to get used for what it’s supposed to? Highly unlikely. There will be payoffs and bribes and pilfering. Lots of these factories are so shoddily built in the first place that trying to backtrack now and do upkeep is virtually impossible.  You may as well start over which most companies aren’t to willing to budget for.  The corruption keeps this country to stunted on so many fronts.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/57/corporations-and-workers-rights

            It’s a tough one. I think there’s a little bit of truth to all of this. Yes we’re a globalized economy, yes it’s a step in the right direction for women. But no, it’s not Ok for women to be sexually harassed while in the industry, no it’s not OK for Walmart’s bottom dollar to keep getting bigger on the backs of these workers.

I think we can all start asking questions and building awareness about these issues.

Change happens frightfully slowly- something I can’t stand! But we can start by researching the brands we like, asking questions of managers at the shops we enter, and by making informed choices. And mostly, by not buying cheap crap we don’t need. I think this is one of the biggest ways that we can create change- by investing in quality products not throw away pieces of junk. It’s the 5$ Tshirts that you wear once that are made in the worst garment factories.  If we use our resources to invest in companies that value quality and high standards, we’re making a difference. You can bet that companies that have high standards for quality treat their employees a lot better- you can’t have a good product which still treating your workers like crap. The two go hand in hand. But the bottom line is addressing our excessive consumerism in general.

I realize as I write, that these choices can be made only by people who can afford to make them. Maybe shopping at Target or Walmart is the only way to put shoes on your kids feet.  It’s actually a privilege to be able to consider these things. Even in our own country and in the US, there are vast numbers who still live paycheck to paycheck and are barely making ends meet. The unemployment rates are still so high. 

            I think everyone has to embrace their own take on the issue. I know that I for one am guilty of “preaching” about things like this, and then not taking the necessary steps to do something about it in my own life. What about the issue of oil? Some of us (me) love to get all riled up about the proposed pipeline, but am I prepared to embrace a world without oil? Am I ready to give up my car, pay way more for food, and not be able to get on a plane to see my family- or come her to Bangladesh? I want to avoid being a hypocrite at all costs- so please, this isn’t me telling you what you should do.  The only person I really need to speak to is me, and so I’ll start there.

 Heidi

Boycott Nestle'

One of our last blogs made reference to the use and marketing of baby formulas in foreign and often impoverished countries. We had spent a day at CWCH and had heard numerous stories about the promotion of breast-milk substitutes in poor areas- Bangladesh being one of them. Fortunately, as stated in our “CWCH” post, this hospital highly values breastfeeding and does everything in its power to promote and support it.

           

After only a few clicks of the mouse, we came across numerous scathing articles, many calling for a total boycott of all Nestle’ products.

Back as early as 1867, Nestle’ has been marketing “milk food” products that were little more than condensed milk. In the 1920’s, they began capitalizing on the Industrial Revolution- a time when women went to work in the factories and were unable to breastfeed.  Nestle’ has long been known for its aggressive marketing tactics. But when these are used in destitute and undereducated countries, it becomes a matter of ethics. Through the use of medical professionals and the hiring of “milk nurses” to promote their products, mothers who only want what was best for their babies, bought into the lies. They promoted their products as “superior to breast milk” and scientifically proven to be better for babies, and unfortunately people bought it.

In 1973, a magazine called the Internationalist first wrote about Nestles’ marketing strategies in a book called The Baby Killers. There was obvious retaliation and Nestle’ sued and won. This was followed by international outcries for justice and accountability.

In 1979, WHO and UNICEF hosted an international meeting that called for the development of an international code of marketing, as well as action on other fronts to improve infant and early child feeding practices. The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) was formed by six of the campaigning groups at this meeting. You can read the document here. It legislates certain marketing practices that are acceptable and others that are unacceptable.  Unfortunately, Nestle’ is one of the worst for breaking these rules and continues to get away with it.

http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/files/nutrition_code_english.pdf

            The following website does an excellent job at outlining just why the promotion of formulas is not only unethical, but dangerous to infants.  Common tactics used are to provide free samples to mothers just long enough to have their milk dry up and then therefore are dependent on the formula.

http://www.nct.org.uk/branches/gloucester/nestle-boycott

            Below is a haunting image showing a mother holding her twin babies. She was told that she would only have enough milk to breast feed one of them. This picture speaks a thousand words about the inappropriate use of formula in poor countries. The smaller girl died the day after the photo was taken.

Now all of the above isn’t claiming that formulas are bad in and of themselves. We use formula all the time in the hospital for babies that are jaundiced or are unable to breastfeed. My personal opinion is that we don’t try hard enough to support breastfeeding and miss it by a long shot. I also disagree with the “deals” made by hospitals and formula companies- these relationships are only about money and the ethics behind it can get pretty convoluted.

            I’m not naïve. I know that many many people choose formula for many reasons- some totally necessary, some not so much. But here we’re not talking about the use of formula, we’re talking about it’s marketing, promotion and use in some of the poorest regions of the world.

            It’s not difficult to find articles speaking to the inappropriate push of formula. The problems come in many shapes and sizes. First, poverty itself puts children at risk. These mothers don’t have the finances to put grain on the table, let alone a packaged and powdered formula bought from the store. This leads to the “dilution effect” where the milk being given is watered down so much that it’s completely ineffective in supporting the growth and nourishment of the child. Secondly, the issue of clean and safe water becomes paramount. Mixing formula with dirty, disease ridden water will only lead to gastrointestinal diseases- already a chief killer of infants and children in the developing world. Who is there to do the follow up teaching about “boiling the water first” and where are you going to get that kind of fire wood anyway? What about the “sterilization of bottles?” The questions without answers are endless.

            The worst area that Nestle’ and other formula companies capitalize on is the devastating HIV/ AIDS epidemic.  Statistics found state that there is approximately a 15% risk of HIV transmission from mother to baby in infants that are exclusively breast fed. Not something to overlook. But, when these companies are using this horrible problem as a platform on which to promote their product, it makes me sick.

What about all the issues of cost and poverty and clean water etc. etc. etc. ? Do the benefits of formula outweigh the risk? I highly doubt that this analysis has been done. Even still, it is found that formula can slightly damage infants fragile digestive tracts. When HIV positive mothers use formula AND breastfeed, the rates of transmission are much higher than 15% due to the damaged mucosal lining.

            So there you have it- musings on yet another aspect of life here in a poor nation.  I’m going to do my best to support to boycott. If you’d like to as well, the link below will help you know what products Nestle’ owns- lots of them.

http://www.nestle.com/brands/brandssearchlist?char=D

And finally, another interesting file regarding Nestle’s not so proud history in Ethiopia.

http://www.babymilkaction.org/pdfs/infactnestleafrica04.pdf

We can be better than this.

- Heidi

Betel in Bulk

Wednesday morning we took a rickshaw to the infamous Tongi Market. Well we're not sure exactly if it is infamous but judging by the amount of people that were walking in the street in must be a popular shopping destination. This was our first time actually being in a 'big market' here in Bangladesh. Karen had suggest we venture to it... her only reasons why were simply "go for the experience". And what an experience it was.

It was only about a 30 minute rickshaw ride away, we took Noor the rickshaw driver who lives with his family in the main floor of the building and we convinced a second rickshaw driver to make the trip too, in order to accommodate the 4 of us. And by convince we mean Noor convinced him... he was not quick to jump on taking us to Tongi... and we discovered why when we entered the district. The roads... can you even call them that? Were what we  consider small pathways at home, hundreds of transportation modes were making their way into the epicentre of the market. We sat in the usual rickshaw traffic jam very much enjoying our scenery though. We were in awe as our eyes took in the colors, our noses took in the smells (unfortunately) and our ears took in the honking and people bartering.

Noor and our new friend found a little street to park and we went adventuring. Being sure to only walk in squares and always return to the main road... we were not keen to get lost here. We started to walk down one street and quickly realized that this was no ordinary market... this was the Costco of Bangladesh! Entire city square blocks were devoted to selling bulk goods! We walked in the rice district, we walked in the spice district, the jean district, the veggie district, the animal feed sector, the kitchen tupperware block, the fabric district, the door handle/curtain rod/ anything else that is small and metal district. It was unbelievable! And then we came upon the Mecca of Betel.... betel in bulk. We didn't even know it was possible. Huge sacks of different betel nuts, gigantic baskets of betel pepper leaves, and hundreds, maybe thousands of tobacco tins ranging in every flavour possible. Everyone smiled and waved... it was red mouth galore. We felt we were just let in on a little secret... how all of those tiny shacks get all of their exotic ingredients to make up the packets of euphoria.

We decided to continue to maximize this experience and buy some spices from one of the merchants. The bags of bring orange turmeric,  and deep red dried chiles were mesmerizing. We had never seen spices so beautifully arranged and whole, we were simply captivated. Our shop owner seemed skeptical of us at first... wonder why? But soon warmed up to us when he realized we were actually interested in purchasing something... or at least that's what we thought. Did we mention he spoke no English? It was a delight to try and figure out prices and quantity when we could use virtually no verbal communication. There was a  lot of pointing, nodding, and "ooo-ing" and "ahh-ing".  We ended up buying some coriander spice to eat after meals, cloves, and almonds. Who knows if we actually eat them, but it was every cent... total cost: $3. In our sales adventure we also ended up attracting about 30 men who were deeply intrigued by us as well. But that seems to be a regular occurrence. We're sure they were 'ooo-ing' and 'ahh-ing' right alongside us.

As we wandered about word seemed to get around that we were here... or that is how it seemed. Quick to join was a store owner who spoke quite good English. He was eager to show us around and help us in any way possible. A bit bizarre but we rolled with it, and what do you know... soon we found ourselves sitting in a shoebox store, ice cream bars and Bangladeshi sweets being forced upon us. Here you must try this ma'am! And this! And do you like this? And make sure you sit down... no really you MUST sit down.... now... here is the stool.... sit down please ma'am....please please please please sit down.... no that is not sitting that is standing.... sit now... bend your legs and sit here please ma'am!  Did we mention that Bangladeshi's take persistence to a whole new level? Needless to say, we sat. We delightfully ate our ice cream bars... which we think were sent down by the gods... and then we ate our 'sweet', which were not sent down by the gods. Bangladeshi's loooove their sweets. We have had them more times than we wish....we may also be developing Type 2 Diabetes. To sum it up: take a doughnut type ball.... and soak it in sugar syrup for no less than 2 days... and bingo bango bongo.... you've got yourself dessert!

After thanking them profusely and trying our hardest to actually pay (which we were unsuccessful at) we made our way back to Noor and our new friend and trekked back home. Then after failing to find a few units of insulin.... we had a nap.

 Until next time...

 Ricki & Heidi

Old Dhaka photos

CWCH

Gooood Morning!

We just rolled out of bed this fine Hartal morning, and decided to sit down and have a little chat with all of you!  For those of you not up to speed, Hartal = no classes. We’d feel happy about it, except that it puts us really behind and then it’s up to us to try to squeeze a class in on our weekends. But, we’re getting really good at just rolling with it J

We have lots to catch you up on!

This past Friday we tagged along with Nancy- one of the other teachers here- to her clinical placement at CWCH (Children’s and Women’s Care Hospital).  We miss practicing and doing hands on work in the hospital and we were especially excited to be able to work on the Pediatrics ward. We took 4 students with us and taught them all we could about Peds- it was really fun to pass on our knowledge!

It is always a little hard stepping into a third world hospital. You know before going in, that you will be fully out of control and that you’re going to see things that are appalling and horrible.  This experience was a lot like walking into Peds in Haiti except worse. No incubators for the tiny 1kg babies, horrible “infection control” practices, using the same suction tubing for the whole hospital it seemed like, and just plain lack of good care.

   We each took two students, found a cute kid, and set to work assessing and teaching the students all the things that are unique about children. We saw a lot of children who were very malnourished, very small for their age.  One of the most positive things about this hospital is that they really support breastfeeding. Formula companies (like Nestle’) have a strong push here and in lots of underdeveloped countries. They campaign- even in super poor areas- claiming that formula is better than breast milk. These poor mothers let their milk dry up, but are too poor to properly supplement or even buy the formula, and the child is the one who suffers.

We see this back home with our first nations families who use formula but dilute it and the children end up failure to thrive. 

The hospital is situated right in the heart of the garment factory sector. We heard many stories about women who work there, whose husbands have left them, who are bitterly impoverished, and whose children suffer because of it. Friday (the day we went) is by far the busiest day because it is the first day of the weekend. There’s a huge influx of children and families- some just coming to get their immunizations done (there’s a really great immunization program at CWCH) and some in because they’re children are sick or because they are in labor. We're going to do a separate blog about the garment industry- a huge topic to cover and understand.

There weren’t to many kids in when we were there. One bigger girl who had a pretty good case of asthma or bronchiolitis we think.  We decided to do a focused respiratory assessment on her, which was good learning for the students. Then we took her Oxygen sats and they were 82%. Wasn’t much we could do except call the nurse, who didn’t seem pleased at all because she was on her lunch break.

The nursing care is shocking. No rational as to why they’re doing what they’re doing, no assessments first.  Things get done, but we’re not sure how or why or if they bring better outcomes for the kids.

So we’re here for this exact reason, to teach these nursing students to be better- to be able to care for patients at a high standard. It’s just a hard reality to digest, that the care and level of knowledge of the doctors and nurses here is so poor.

We knew the standard of nursing was low, but it doesn’t really hit you until you see it.

Nurses here are supposed to be registered, but lots aren’t and are working “unlicensed”. Some of them have no education whatsoever, some have taken some semblance of a diploma program, and some have a “BScN”- which let’s be clear, is NOT a BScN.

We’ve had lots of conversations about how nursing is viewed in Bangladesh. Again, you can read about it, and then you see it. Nurses here a viewed in a class just above prostitutes. Historically, it was these people who entered Nursing. Women who got pregnant out of wedlock, women who were prostitutes or Hijras. It was what you did if there was almost nothing else. It’s crazy to us!

Still, the students at our university get a lot of flack. It’s getting much better- they’ve started realizing that in other parts of the world, nursing is viewed as a very noble and accepted profession. The students see us “foreigners” coming to teach and see that we are very proud to be nurses. We’re also not shy to tell them the same. But they still do get treated with a lot of disrespect for choosing nursing- we have to give them a lot of support emotionally to help them understand that the choice to enter this program is worth it.

Still, for public nursing schools (ours is private), the students are required to live in “hostels”. Not like living in Rez- more like living in a nurses residence.  Because they’re required to live in hostels, they can’t get married because they’re husbands would never let them. And in another view, women who are already married can’t enter nursing because they can’t leave their husbands to live in the hostels. We don’t really understand it at all.

The nursing program is by far the hardest program in the entire university- and the students and faculty at large know it. There’s a lot of just “passing people through” even when they shouldn’t- but not in our program! Our students are kept to a high standard. It’s hard for them, and they complain a lot “ But Mam’me, But Mam’me”, but they know they’re getting an amazing education compared to any program in the country.

The sad thing is, is that for the time being it’s not sustainable. Relying on foreigners to come teach can only take the program so far. Ideally, they need Bangladeshi teachers. But it’s just not possible. There are no quality instructors to be found at this point. Karen and Alex, the directors of the program have tried earnestly to find Bangladeshi nurses to teach but to no avail. There is a HUGE lack of quality instructors across the country- lots of hospitals but no good nurses and doctors.

It’s not their fault necessarily, it’s just that education and health care have not been made priorities- they’re still in their baby stages of things. 

Even at CWCH, they have these dreams and plans to build a nursing school and a medical college and a new hospital, but there are NO quality teachers! It’s just a little short sighted, and unfortunately they don’t see the fact that the quality is poor and their knowledge base is extremely lacking.

 This ties into our “trapped on a boat” blogs- these nurses have been through so much discrimination for choosing nursing, no wonder they’re defensive and mean at times! It makes sense.

Just another little snap shot. Very brief- there’s a lot more we could say, but it makes us so thankful that we come from a country where nursing is so highly esteemed. We realize that it wasn’t always this way in Canada. Not to many years ago we were fighting the same battles to be recognized as a profession. Not to long ago, doctors dominated nurses. Now, we’re so lucky (especially on Pediatrics at VGH J ) to work alongside doctors in such a beautiful team player way. 

So, we’re thankful for what we have, thankful for Florence Nightingale, thankful for those who fought in Canada for nurses rights.

Ya Nursing!!

Xo Heidi and Ricki