Sister
Cam Banh: Working with women in crisis pregnancies
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
Sister Cam Banh, a Handmaid of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has been a herald
of hope for many in Philadelphia over the past eight years.
As a counselor and outreach coordinator for the Southwest Philadelphia
Family Service Center of Catholic Social Services, Sister Cam has provided
spiritual, material and emotional assistance to countless people in the
Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian and African American
communities.
Recently, Sister Cam was recognized by Real Alternatives, a nonprofit
organization in Pennsylvania whose mission is to provide life-affirming
alternatives to abortion, for her work with women in crisis pregnancies.
She was presented with the Counselor of the Year Award for her dedication
to such women.
In recent years, her work with women in crisis pregnancies has grown greatly,
she said. More and more women are coming forward, seeking help because
they have a language barrier, are unemployed or don’t have health
insurance, she said.
Sister Cam, who is of Chinese and Vietnemese descent, readily finds help
for those entrusted to her care — whether it is a women in crisis,
an immigrant, or an elderly person. One of the people she helped was a
young Asian woman who came to Sister Cam very frightened and depressed,
thinking about seeking an abortion, almost six years ago.
The young woman had been raped, was pregnant and felt there was no other
alternative to abortion, because the stigma and shame of being pregnant
outside of marriage as an Asian woman was too much to bear, Sister Cam
said.
“She didn’t want anyone to know about her tragedy,”
she said. “But I tried to console her and help her see that there
was an alternative to abortion.”
Sister Cam saw to meeting the young woman’s material needs —
finding her a maternity home, helping her to extend her visa, and helping
her get free prenatal care. She also found the young woman a counselor
to help her get back her emotional health, and remained in close contact
with her to see to her spiritual needs.
With that support system in place, the woman decided to give up her child
for adoption, and Sister Cam worked with Catholic Social Services’
adoption agency to find the baby a good family.
“But she was not comfortable... she told me that she didn’t
want to give away her baby,” Sister Cam said.
The young woman had been alone; with her family oceans away. She feared
what the future would bring, but Sister Cam’s support helped her
see that she did have choices. That gave her the strength to keep her
baby, Sister Cam said.
Sister Cam continued to keep in contact with the woman after the birth
of her child. “Now she is 5 years-old,” she said. “They
turned out well.”
Sister Cam knows from her years of social work that women in crisis pregnancies
need to be given real choices and support — that too often women
make decisions from lack of information about the help and support that
is available. She is making a difference, one person at a time.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith may be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.
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