Bright lantern release show for lost infants
Lanterns are burning bright like night lights as Manawatu¯ parents remember their lost children.
About 200 parents, grandparents and siblings gathered in The Square, Palmerston North, to release lanterns and remember the little lives that have been lost.
The lantern light show on Sunday was part of International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.
Organiser Jen Stephens said the event was a way to help parents and families remember their children, alongside family and friends in a comfortable way.
‘‘Sometimes people find services pretty confrontational.’’
Stephens has lost two babies – Sam at 17 weeks in 2004 and Rylan at 24 weeks in 2009.
She was also a member of the Sands Manawatu¯ -Horowhenua organisation, which helps families deal with miscarriages.
When a family loses a child, they can also experience the loss of hope and dreams for the child they were planning to involve in their future, she said.
The Feilding woman said the lantern release was a way to bring people together and share the moment with others who understood what they were going through.
‘‘This is just my little way of helping people.’’
The event was part of Baby Loss Week and also part of the Global Wave of Light movement, where candles were lit at 7pm on October 15 each year across time zones around the world.
‘‘It’s virtually a wave of light around the world.’’
The first Palmerston North lantern release was in 2015, with about 300 people lighting lanterns and floating them across the lagoon.
She encouraged women and families who experienced child loss to contact the Sands group for support.