Last week Mother's Heart was asked to help a young mother due in January. She had been considering giving her baby up as she has no support from the baby's father or her own family. As her due date drew near, she visited one of our partners who referred her to us to seek help from our social services to keep her baby.
At this late stage in her pregnancy, and living with less than $1/day, she was not prepared to bring her baby home. Her family disavowed her and she thought she would be homeless, not being able to afford to rent a room.
She doesn't know anyone who could give her shelter, food, or any of the baby items she would need to raise her child.
She doesn't want to abandon her baby but she cannot afford any clothes, bottles, cot, and doesn't have a roof over her head.
It doesn't need to come to this. You can help her bring her baby home. You can provide a roof over her head. You can gift her with a baby basket, with medical care, counselling, parenting classes, and family mediation.
Can there be a better gift than providing a Mum with what she needs to keep her baby?
She is one of 60 mothers that join our program every year. Their babies have already been born or are due in 2019, and only at Mother's Heart will they be provided with everything they need to bond with their babies.
The most powerful way you can help now is with a financial gift.
You can help us pay for life saving baby baskets, that include medical care and regular visits from our midwife, social workers, and counselors.
Money is what we need right now.
If each one of you who reads this post donates $10 we will be able to help this mum and others who have nowhere else to turn to. Please help now by donating: http://bit.ly/2qAjlM8 (UK and US) http://bit.ly/2QiY6N1 (tax-deductible donation in Australia, no matching funds available) Wing account: 012602384 (Cambodia)
Thank you.
19% of girls in Cambodia are married before their 18th birthday, while 2% are married before their 15th birthday.
Parents in the province can earn as little as $130 for a family of 6. Worried about feeding everyone, they marry their daughters very young. The young woman is sent to her husband's home.
When Sreyneang* left her family to live with a young man she had never met, she was scared. She couldn't understand what she was meant to do.
Soon after, she was pregnant. She told her husband. He got very angry: "we barely have enough to eat as it is, this is your fault." That evening, she prepared the little rice they had for when he returned from work. He never did.
She went to her parents for help. "You have failed at your duty to be a good wife. We are full of shame. Do not come back" That night, she didn't sleep. She fell the weight of the world on her shoulders. She contemplated ending her life. The next day, she told one of her friend. They went to the village chief together. This village chief had already met with MHO's social workers before. He contacted us.
Sreyneang is now in our pregnancy support program. Although she is experiencing a sense of loss, and grief, she knows she is not alone. MHO provides a vital service to young women in Cambodia. Help us continue. Donate to our baby basket fundraiser. Provide essential goods, midwife visits, and parenting classes.
For Giving Tuesday on Nov 27, Global Giving has $150,000 of matching funds. Women and children in our program are counting on you. All donations will be available for GiftAid in the Uk, and tax deductibility in the US.
Donating to Mother's Heart will make a significant difference to the life a single mother, by ensuring her health, and provided the best start in life to a child, who would have been born in extreme poverty, and possibly been taken away from a loving mother. You can gift them with the chance to bond, create a nest of tenderness, and keep them healthy and strong.
Our baby baskets contain all necessary items to keep mother and child healthy, and we also provide regular visits from our midwife to ensure their health.
Sophy* and her child Neary* are benefitting from our Pregnancy Support Program.
Sophy arrived in our offices one morning. Her eyes were sad and her chin lowered to her chest. She wouldn't look any of us in the eyes.
She realised she was pregnant a month before our meeting. In Cambodia, reproduction is a great taboo. And she always thought that she would only get pregnant when married. No one had ever told her, and the shock of her pregnancy left her depressed, full of shame, and deeply isolated.
She told one of her friend, who saw how withdrawn she was, and they both reached to us.
Sophy's pregnancy went well, but when her family found out, they cut all ties with her. We started family mediation, but it takes time, and we needed to find a safe place for Sophy.
We took her in our Mothers' Home where she met other moms, some pregnant, some with children. They helped each other, and watching her housemates interact with children, took her fear of motherhood away. Our midwife made regular visits making sure the pregnancy was going well, and getting Sophy prepared for delivery. Neary was born two months ago. She is lovely baby girl, with beautiful dark eyes and a lovely smile. Her skin is fair, which makes her mother very proud!
After delivery, we provided Sophy with a baby basket that included every item a mother and her newborn need for the first 6 weeks. Inside her basket, Sophy found hygiene essentials for herself and her baby, a mosquito net (as mosquitoes can carry deadly diseases in Cambodia), etc. We also provide regular visits from our midwife, parenting classes, and the support every mother needs after pregnancy.
Keeping Sophy in good health was paramount to having her beautiful baby boy in top health. We are also training our staff to see signs of postpartum depression. Women in our Pregnancy Support Program are particularly vulnerable to depression. Being single, they face the hardship of parenthood alone, and society rejects them. Monitoring their progress, their health, and providing them with a safe place to talk is one of our main goals.
Thanks to our many supporters, Sophy has become an empowered young mother, and is determined to give her daughter Neary a great future. Neary is in great health, and we will continue to monitor their progress for the next year.
*Names have been changed to respect our beneficiaries right to anonymity.
