Dear friends, dear birthing-center sponsors of Back to Life,

I warmly greet you on the last full moon of the year 2025. Today, two little girls in the Himalayas are surely also gazing at the bright moonlight — girls who themselves bear heavenly names: Star and Morning Star. It is them I am thinking of right now.

A Double Miracle in the Himalayas

At the start of the 2017 monsoon, Chaiti Rawal gave birth to two tiny girls at the Back to Life birthing center in Gamtha, at over 2,000 m: Tara and Sitara – Star and Morning Star. They were the first twins ever born in one of our birthing centers.

Since 2012, we have operated birthing centers in the remote mountain region of Mugu in western Nepal, because there an age-old fear of spirits forces women to give birth in the cowshed, since blood is believed to defile the home itself.

With a birth weight of around 2,000 grams, the two girls were considered high-risk newborns – and under high-mountain conditions, their start in life was especially endangered.

At that time, there was still no specialized clinic for high-risk pregnancies and births. Only since 2024 has our mother-and-child hospital in the same province, with an attached neonatal unit, been available for this. In 2017, however, the entire responsibility for this high-risk birth lay with our midwives on site, who, with all their experience and determination, brought the babies safely into the world.

“It is unthinkable what would have happened if this twin birth had taken place alone and in the cowshed. I am so glad that we could stand by Chaiti and that all three survived,” recalls midwife Nirmala.

The midwives watched over the newborns through the first critical hours, days, and nights. Every change was attentively observed, every bit of progress safeguarded. Afterward, they accompanied the family closely: week after week they supported breastfeeding, monitored the little ones’ growth, and stood by the mother through this decisive first year.

The Birthing Center as a Second Home

In our now 18 birthing centers, with around 4,150 births, we have so far been able to welcome 13 pairs of twins. Twins draw people in like magic – and so it is with Tara and Sitara. From the very beginning they were surrounded by affection: from their family, the neighbors, and especially our midwives, who to this day lovingly call them “our babies.” Because the birthing center is only a few minutes from their home, the sisters still come by almost every day to play on the little playground. For the girls, the two midwives have long since become family members.

The twins are growing up in a simple farming family. Their parents, Chaiti and Purna Rawal, work hard in the fields to provide for their large family. Every yield counts; every harvest determines what the winter will look like. Every rupee is turned over twice – and yet the parents pursue a clear goal: education for their daughters. By now, Tara and Sitara are eight years old and attend the Valley School in the small market town of Majhchaur. Their teachers describe them as cheerful, attentive, and almost always hand in hand.

Dear friends, while the full moon stands in the sky framed by stars, I think of the twins. Of their fragile start in life. Of the hands that protected them. And of the future that lies ahead of them.

I thank you for standing at our side and making safe births in the Himalayas possible. Every further birthing-center sponsorship counts – for children like Tara and Sitara.

Namaste,

Yours,

Stella Deetjen

To birthing-center sponsorship ➜