Utah-based aid group helps Nepalese mothers


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SALT LAKE CITY — Pictures of a baby, no matter what race, religion or nationality, touch all of us.

"The pictures coming back from Nepal warm my heart," said Robert Workman, who can't stop smiling every time he sees pictures of happy parents next to their newborn.

He knows, in a small way, he helped.

"The reason we do this, is really, it's about families," Workman said.

Workman is the founder of Tifie Humanitarian, a Utah-based charity working in Nepal. He is also the founder of Goal Zero solar battery chargers and Barebones tents, both of which are being used in Nepal to save lives.

"We partner with people who are on the ground and that are trying to help people sustain," Workman said.

Tifie's partner on the ground in Nepal is One Heart World-Wide, a group using the tents as birthing centers.

"During the earthquake, 70 percent of all the health facilities were destroyed, 70 percent. There was nowhere for anyone to go to have a delivery," said Arlene Saman, founder of One Heart World-Wide.

(Photo: Tifie Humanitarian)
(Photo: Tifie Humanitarian)

But the organizations needs your help to fund this effort. Workman said 100 percent of all donations will go to getting new tents to Nepal, "100 percent. Every penny goes to this cause."

Corporate sponsors and endowments take care of Tifie's administrative costs. That means Tifie can just focus on helping mothers in Nepal who need it.

If you would like to help, you can click here. You can also donate by texting "shelter" to 56512.

Follow the campaign on social media using the hashtag #shelternepal.

Women give birth in the tents every day.

"I don't look at them as tents. I look at them as shelters," Workman said.

Saman has also been to Nepal to help mothers and train midwives and says many mothers were giving birth in the streets after the earthquake.

"Outside on the ground. They don't even have a home right now, so they were just delivering outside," Saman said.

Mothers giving birth now have a safe, clean place to go where someone trained can help.


They have to be built well. They have to have anti-bacterial woven right into the fibers. They have to have UV protection on it. We have to consider all the elements, and we're still learning.

–Robert Workman, founder of Tifie Humanitarian


"Right now, we've had no woman die, post the earthquake, in our tents," Saman said.

Some of the tents were among the first shelters set up right after the earthquake in Nepal.

Many local residents started coming to the tents realizing they were safe havens.

"Nepal, even under the best circumstances, people suffer a lot," Saman said.

So when the second earthquake hit earlier this year, people knew to go to the tents for help.

"You feel safe in the tent, and so, 10 minutes after the earthquake, two pregnant women came in labor," Saman said.

The tents are durable and built to last at least five years. Two cots can fit inside a tent as well as medical equipment.

"They have to be built well. They have to have anti-bacterial woven right into the fibers. They have to have UV protection on it," Workman said. "We have to consider all the elements, and we're still learning."

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