Laura Peterson — Unsung Hero of Compassion
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2015 Event,
Speaker Announcements
If you have ever been a parent, you probably remember that feeling of near-terror the first time you brought your baby home from the hospital, that panicky sense of being woefully ill-equipped for the most important task you’ll ever face: raising a child. Now, just imagine how much worse it would be in extremely impoverished rural areas without schools, where it is an everyday struggle just to find food and clean water, much less medical support.
Laura Peterson did more than just imagine that, she decided to do something about it. She is the founder/director of Hands to Hearts International (HHI), a non-profit dedicated to improving the health and development of vulnerable children (ages 0-3) by training caregivers in early childhood development and nurturing parenting skills. Affected by what she’d witnessed in a decade of working with children suffering severe emotional health issues, she wanted to make an impact. “I founded HHI as a way to reach the world’s neediest and youngest children with the simplest, most cost-effective forms of healing available,” she explains. “Just as important, I wanted to empower women in some of the most remote and challenging areas of the world to act for positive change in their families and communities.” It has been a successful venture. Ten years into it, HHI has expanded into six countries and has touched almost 200,000 lives—and counting.
Laura’s idea worth spreading is the story of the cause she champions: the low-tech, hands-on effect of a loving touch and nurturing care upon a child. No baby comes with an instruction manual, but regardless of race, culture, religion, or economic level, there are certain ways of nurturing children that are the same — no matter what. HHI provides training that is simple, cost-effective, and easily replicable, even in the most primitive situations. Honoring local customs, utilizing local caregivers, the knowledge stays in each village forever as trainees train others. The dramatic outcome is that babies have stopped dying; however, the true impact of Laura’s efforts will be seen exponentially in the generations to come.
HHI’s work has been recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative, the Fetzer Institute, and UNESCO Asia. What’s more, anyone can say they know who the Dalai Lama is; but Laura Peterson can claim the Dalai Lama knows who she is, calling her an “Unsung Hero of Compassion.” Come to TEDxMtHood on May 2nd and get to know her yourself.
In her own words:
- Laura loves horses and played polo in college.
- She has an adopted Chihuahua named Frida Kahlo, for whom she made dinosaur jacket (ridges and all!) that is the envy of the other dogs in Portland.
Ted Moeller
Feeling called to be part of the TEDx team—by name even!—Ted Moeller is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. He retired from the Canadian Armed Forces (a paratrooper chaplain) to plant a church in Vancouver, Washington. Ted loves the Pacific Northwest—its coffee, microbrews, sports teams, even its weather! In addition to being a pastor he is also a professor at Concordia University. Formerly, he was a high school basketball coach, a disk jockey, and co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (in 1988, sharing it with 35,000 other peacekeepers!). He married Patricia Chylla of Bloomfield Hills, MI, a third of a century ago. They have two children, Laura and Rebecca, and a Labrador named Kona.
