About three weeks ago, I had arranged to hire a car to drive the 2 hours to town from a remote village. I had heard that morning that one of our neighbors in the village was due to give birth any day. Before leaving I made it clear that I was happy for her to get on board and take this chance–perhaps the only car in weeks–to get to the hospital in town. Everyone agreed, and someone went back to the birthing house. However, the message came back that her water had already broken. I wonder, though, how much the decision was influenced by how uncomfortable the ride would have been, both physically and culturally. How taboo and shaming would that have been for her to come out of seclusion!

The road was in terrible disrepair, and it eventually required us to make several attempts up a steep mountain through deep mud holes, bouncing through it like a bucking bronco. Most of the passengers needed to walk through mud that was higher than our knees.

I have recently heard beautiful stories of husbands and other male relatives taking a very active role in assuring the safety and well-being of their women during childbirth even though there may still be very strong taboo restrictions on their presence in the house, etc. I believe the times are ripe for a Village Birth Attendant to come alongside others in the community who desire to overcome the many barriers to safe and healthy deliveries.

So-called environmentally induced migration is multi-level problem. According to Essam El-Hinnawi definition form 1985 environmental refugees as those people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural or triggered by people) that jeopardised their existence and/or seriously affected the quality of their life. The fundamental distinction between `environmental migrants` and `environmental refugees` is a standpoint of contemporsry studies in EDPs.

According to Bogumil Terminski it seems reasonable to distinguish the general category of environmental migrants from the more specific (subordinate to it) category of environmental refugees.

Environmental migrants, therefore, are persons making a short-lived, cyclical, or longerterm change of residence, of a voluntary or forced character, due to specific environmental factors. Environmental refugees form a specific type of environmental migrant.

Environmental refugees, therefore, are persons compelled to spontaneous, short-lived, cyclical, or longer-term changes of residence due to sudden or gradually worsening changes in environmental factors important to their living, which may be of either a short-term or an irreversible character.

So-called environmentally induced migration is multi-level problem. According to Essam El-Hinnawi definition form 1985 environmental refugees as those people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural or triggered by people) that jeopardised their existence and/or seriously affected the quality of their life. The fundamental distinction between `environmental migrants` and `environmental refugees` is a standpoint of contemporsry studies in EDPs.

According to Bogumil Terminski it seems reasonable to distinguish the general category of environmental migrants from the more specific (subordinate to it) category of environmental refugees.

Environmental migrants, therefore, are persons making a short-lived, cyclical, or longerterm change of residence, of a voluntary or forced character, due to specific environmental factors. Environmental refugees form a specific type of environmental migrant.

Environmental refugees, therefore, are persons compelled to spontaneous, short-lived, cyclical, or longer-term changes of residence due to sudden or gradually worsening changes in environmental factors important to their living, which may be of either a short-term or an irreversible character.

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