By Elizabeth Grezda | Executive Director
Hello, dear donors!
Of all the needs in the world, you have chosen to support our work with mothers and babies here in Albania. We are deeply grateful for your partnership and for the investment you are making in this work.
We want to share a few of the fruits of our work together this summer:
The long-awaited new hospital building is finally open!
After years of waiting, the new maternity hospital has opened its doors. Through the generosity of donors like you, we were able to help provide some of the final pieces needed to open the facility—including patient beds, operating tables, and intensive-care beds.
The new building will make it easier for mothers to labor and recover in better conditions, and it gives us a much better environment in which to support and counsel them after birth. We are so excited about this new chapter!
We celebrated World Breastfeeding Week with a special class.
A group of expectant mothers gathered at the new hospital to hear from neonatologists and our midwife, Esmeralda, about both the vital importance of breastfeeding and the practical steps mothers can take to get off to a successful start.
A new “Quick Guide” for the first days at home with baby has been released.
Every new mother Esmeralda supports during her first day with her baby now receives a beautiful new guide to take home. It helps mothers understand how to tell whether their baby is getting enough milk and reminds them of the practical information they learned during their consultation.
For many new mothers, the fear that their milk is not enough can lead to unnecessary formula supplementation, breastfeeding difficulties, mastitis, and other complications. Now, mothers receive both personal support from Esmeralda and a resource they can turn to when they are home and wondering, “Is my baby getting enough?”
It’s almost time to make more Boxes of Joy!
We are looking forward to another “boxing party,” where we will prepare 100 boxes of essential baby supplies for mothers facing economic hardship.
The staff who help us identify families in need have told us they could easily distribute twice as many boxes as we currently provide. We also hope to expand this program to more regional hospitals, reaching families facing extreme economic difficulty throughout Albania.
Thank you for being part of this very special work. Your generosity is helping us walk alongside mothers and babies at some of the most important moments of their lives.
With deep gratitude,
Lizzy
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
