In the mountains of Timor-Leste, the road to safe motherhood is often long and uncertain. For many women, reaching help in time can mean the difference between life and loss. This article takes you to Quelicai, where a newborn named Petrolina and a partnership between Thailand, Timor-Leste, and UNFPA tell a bigger story of hope, cooperation, and the quiet power of saving lives.

Last year when the news of Rohingya women giving birth in no man’s land along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border first surfaced in the media, I heard many men glorifying such births which took place out in the open without any birth attendants.