Outreach for Women and Girls in Post-Quake Nepal

Aura Freedom’s Outreach program in Nepal puts the needs of its program participants first. One of these needs that our staff have identified is access to reproductive health and family planning education for young women. This became apparent when staff realized that many of the adolescent girls attending our awareness sessions on child marriage were already married and pregnant or nursing.

In order to address the needs of these young, economically disadvantaged mothers, Aura Freedom is distributing Mommy Kits to adolescent girls and young women who are pregnant and nursing. Designed by local staff with the help of local health experts, these kits contain life-saving items, including:

• Bathing soap
• Laundry soap
• Flannel blanket
• Towel
• Nail clippers
• Comb
• Undergarments
• Dressing gown
• Sanitary napkins
• Lentils and rice
• Cloth bag

These items prove essential in ensuring the health of new mothers and their babies, and, ultimately, increase the autonomy of young mothers who lack the financial resources to properly care for their newborn children.

The Mommy Kits are distributed along with additional education:

• Local health experts to deliver awareness sessions on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, and maternal, newborn and child health
• Visits from local government agencies who discuss the different birth control methods available
• Dialogue on the importance of shared decision-making in family planning and childcare – husbands were included in these conversations to facilitate improved co-parenting and address gender roles
• Discussions on the legal rights of married women and girls

In receiving both the Mommy Kits and practical information on reproductive health, these young mothers are now equipped to properly care for their families. Not only does this empower them both as mothers and as women, it also enables them to do things differently with their own children, breaking the cycle of poverty, violence, and inequality for entire communities.

What better way to empower the future generation of youth than to empower their mothers in pregnancy and shortly after birth?

Anju (pictured below with one of her sons) is an amazing example of this empowerment.

Married as a child and a mother of two, 18-year-old Anju believes Outreach has opened up a whole new world of knowledge for her. She is learning for the first time about family planning, which she and her husband now openly discuss in their home.

As a result, the young couple are now using contraception and recognize the importance of reproductive health. Anju also remains committed to sharing her newfound knowledge with her friends and other community members, and is eager to start teaching her young sons about women’s rights and equality.

Your contributions have made this possible for Anju and for so many women like her. More kits are needed, let's continue to work together and ensure that no woman or girl in need is left behind. 

Thank you all for your continued support!