The heartbreaking reality of babies in Cartagena

Juanfe Foundation started the year 2020 full of energy, commitment, and determination. The COVID-19 pandemic led us to adapt our work and design a remote care strategy that has allowed us to advance the accomplishment of our goals.

Between January and the first weeks of March, we took care of 110 babies in Cartagena, who are children of the teenage mothers that are beneficiaries of Juanfe Foundation's projects. With these babies, we conducted activities aimed at:

• Sensory stimulation
• Psychomotor stimulation
• Cognitive stimulation
• Language stimulation

The activities were carried out following the Abbreviated Scale of Development standards. 

After the COVID-19 outbreak, we closed our facilities and adapted our programs to remote strategies. We continue providing our babies with integral development activities through virtual activities with their mothers. These activities have been focused on:

• Strengthening the affective bond between the mothers and the babies
• Promoting positive upbringing guidelines adapted to the context of confinement
• Providing psychosocial care to the teenagers and emergency care for those who need it

We will continue promoting the integral development of these babies, taking care of their mothers, and fostering their socioeconomic inclusion. 

In 2019, 240 babies, children of the teenage mothers that are served by Juanfe Foundation, were cared for at the Infant Development Center (IDC). During this year, the IDC team built their pedagogical approach, based on the positive upbringing methodology. Under this approach, we conducted the following activities:

• The caregivers established resting and sleeping routines according to the behavior of each baby. 
• The caregivers promoted the development of hygiene, resting, playing, and eating habits. 

To advance the babies' integral development, we promoted four stimulation dimensions:

• Motor stimulation: It strengthens the muscles of the arms, legs, back, neck, and chest.
• Cognitive stimulation: It seeks to boost the babies' intelligence through awakening the reflexes.
• Language stimulation: The goal is to develop the language using activities such as sound, gestures, and movement imitation. This allows babies to express their emotions with more confidence.
• Sensory stimulation: These activities lead the babies to perceive and experience different sensations in their bodies through contact with textures, sounds, temperature, smells, and tastes. 

Lastly, their mothers participated in learning circles in which we raised awareness on the importance of breastfeeding and built capacities on positive upbringing and appropriate complementary feeding.

During this year, we achieved the following results of change:

• Creating protective environments for both the children and their mothers.
• Advancing the babies' integral development.
• Promoting healthy eating habits.