Robin Lim

Former Dos Pueblos student Robin Lim was honored with CNN’s Heroes Award for her efforts in the promotion of maternal health care in Southeast Asia. Lim has run her clinic, Yayasan Bumi Sehat, and provided emergency medical services in the wake of natural disasters for over fifteen years.

The 54-year-old Lim, known as Ibu “Mother” Robin by her Indonesian community, lost both her sister and her best friend to childbirth complications within the span of a year. Although Lim had already built a stable life for herself in Hawaii, the tragedies inspired her to re-evaluate and dedicate herself to preventing others from needlessly suffering the same loss. In 1994, she and her husband moved to Indonesia and began providing free health services to pregnant women out of their Bali home. By 2005, Yayasan Bumi Sehat was a formally established clinic providing 9,000 consultations and assisting in 550 births every year.

Having been raised in the Philippines while her father was in the military, Lim understood the need for maternal health care in Southeast Asia. According to the United Nations Population Fund, three out of five women in the region give birth without the services of a skilled attendant, leading to high maternal and infant mortality rates. When women do manage to find hospitals with a trained staff, the cost for their medical services are often unaffordably high. Many new mothers are forced to leave their babies in the hospitals they are born in until they can pay the fees. Others simply relinquish their parental rights and never see their children again.