Gift 40 babies with the best start in life

Dear Friends and Supporters,
At Mother’s Heart, we have so much to share and be proud of, especially in the wake of last year’s organizational restructuring and rebuilding. 

Currently, we have 90 beneficiaries, 32 of them newly-registered from January to May period. The number of newly-registered women is over our target number of beneficiaries for the whole 2023, much more than we had anticipated. This is due to the increase of case referrals from rural villages, especially from our community partners. Despite this, we continue to accept cases in our program and work closely with our different community partners on how we can best support each case despite some challenges in resources.

There are 87 children in our program, 25 babies were born between January to May this year, and 25 baby baskets were provided to their mothers. These baskets are filled with mother and baby essentials which made them feel supported on their pregnancy journey. Newborn babies and their mothers born during this period were visited weekly by our midwives, till the babies reach their 6^th week, and afterwhich, the babies are checked monthly.  According to our midwives’ monitoring records, the newborn babies are growing well and have no serious issues, and there are no issues of malnutrition or underweight children in our program, from age 6 to 24months old.

We would also like to put the spotlight on one of the girls who came into our program in 2020 at the height of COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia. Kalyan (not her real name) was only 12 years old then.  At such a young age, she went through a traumatic period that resulted in her crisis pregnancy and her challenging journey towards her healing and raising her baby.  Our social workers and community rallied behind her, providing her emotional support and other resources to help her during difficult time. With your support and resources from our partners in the community, Kalyan received crisis pregnancy support services, specialized maternal care (due to her age), legal assistance, and shelter along with her younger siblings whilst her case was in court. When she was asked about her plans after giving birth, she told her social worker that she wanted to return to school (she stopped in the middle of 4^th grade) and that she also wanted to learn how to sew dresses. Her grandfather, who now takes the role of her primary guardian, supported her wish to return to school. And so, after her pregnancy break, and with the approval of her counsellors, she went back to school. Not only did she showed strength and grace, standing up against the perceived shame and stigma that goes with being a teenage mother, she is also doing well in her class. She is also a fast learner, said one of her teachers in her dressmaking course where she goes after school. She proudly showed me the shirt she made for her grandpa! It is no wonder that, last week, being a top student in her dressmaking course, local district officials presented her with a brand-new sewing machine and other materials she would need to jumpstart her dream clothes shop when she graduates this month. Kalyan was ecstatic. She could not thank you alll enough - the people and organizations - who supported her. Now 16 years old and with a baby to raise, she does not want to think about what happened in the past. She wants to go onward and forward,  to take advantage of what opportunities are available for her, and to enjoy what life has to offer for her and her baby.  After her case evaluation with the involvement of our community partners, Kalyan was chosen as one of the transitioned cases during this period.  She has shown progress and stability, and require little intervention from Mother’s Heart and other partners. Mother’s Heart will continue to monitor transitioned cases, such as Kalyan, for up to 12 months, and will step in for support when required, before closing their cases. We are so proud of Kalyan and the other women and girls in our program, for their resilience, strength, and fortitude to take their lives back. All of these are possible and have been achieved because of your generous support to Mother’s Heart. For that, we thank you all, on their behalf.

This coming July, Mother’s Heart will be participating in the GlobalGiving’s July Bonus Day campaigns. More details about the July Bonus Day campaignsoon. Also, our 2022 Annual Report will be ready for publishing on our website this month, so please watch out for it.

Warm regards

Team Mother’s Heart  

As we begin the new year and look forward to a year of serving women and girls in crisis pregnancy, we would like to thank you, our donors, supporters, and friends. The past 12 months were challenging but your support helped us make our way towards recovery.

After the Board approved the organisational restructing in the first quarter of 2022, we are now operating with a small but compact program and operations team. The Program Manager in our Battambang Program Office was promoted to be the Executive Director. Under his leadership, we were able to re-strategise and restructure to increase efficiency and ensure that costs are aligned with our funding reality so that Mother's Heart will be able to continue providing key essential services to pregnant women and their babies. For other services, we referred beneficiaries to trusted partners and maximised the positive impact of our shared expertise.

At the end of 2022, we supported a total of 76 women and girls and 69 babies/children and their families in our Crisis Pregnancy Support Program in our Phnom Penh and Battambang program offices. Forty-three (43) cases were closed in the middle of 2022 because the beneficiaries have began taking steps towards independence and no longer need the full assistance of Mother's Heart. Twenty-eight (28) healthy babies were born in 2022, including a set of twin boys. We were also able to distribute 34 baby baskets to pregnant mothers. Records show (on the yellow health monitoring cards) that no child up to 24 months old who are in our program is underweight or malnourished, and no mother nor baby had any major health issues in the past twelve months. Our team in Battambang province was one of the organisations actively involved in the provincial network against human trafficking. In the last quarter of 2022, Mother's Heart supported two mothers and their children who were recently intercepted from traffickers in Battambang province by providing food, maternal and child health service, among others. The mothers and their children are now in the care of the provincial social affairs department. Mother's Heart and other partners in the community are working towards empowering the mothers and reuniting them to their families.

Mother's Heart maintains good working relationship with the commune committeesfor women and children and local authorities to keep track of mothers and children's health, safety, and security in line with the health ministry's campaign on maternal and child health and development and protection. In Phnom Penh, 17 children benefitted from the safe and nurturing environment of the day care while their mothers are working or are attending classes or skills training. There, the children spent time with children their ages and not on the streets where they face many risks.

All of these would have not been possible without your generosity. Thank you for partnering with us, for your financial support and unceasing prayers, and for sharing our passion and mission to empower women and girls in crisis pregnancy. Onward and upward! We wish you all the best in 2023, and hope that it is filled with good health, hope, happiness and love.

Sincerely,

Team Mother's Heart 

Links:

• Infant Mental Health: An Interview with Mother's Heart