Support a Baby, Build a Family!

Do you remember the first 1,000 days of your child’s life? At least the first 100 or so are probably a haze of feeding, catching a nap when you can, and so many diapers. So, so many diapers.

I remember thinking afterwards, when my baby was a toddler, that I was grateful she couldn’t remember that time of her life, because the bubbly I cracked open on her first birthday was more to celebrate that I’d kept her alive, than anything else.

However, while my daughter’s long-term memory hadn’t yet fully formed in those first 2.74 years, a growing body of scientific evidence shows that the foundations of her lifelong health—including her predisposition to obesity and certain chronic diseases—were largely set during this 1,000 day window.

In South Africa, 1 in 4 children under the age of five are experiencing the effects of stunting due to inadequate care during the first 1,000 days of their lives.

That is 27% of the population who will enter the workforce and begin families of their own in the next 20 years or so.Let’s think about that for a moment.A third of the children in our country have affected brain development, are less likely to finish school, have lower earning potential, are more likely to live in poverty as adults and are more likely to suffer from obesity and chronic diseases in adulthood. The potential social and economic impact of stunting on South Africa in the year 2038, is staggering.On the 17th of October 2018, Dr Kopano Matlwa Mabaso inaugurated the Grow Great campaign, which aims to achieve ZERO stunting by 2030. Yes, ZERO. She, and other talented and passionate professionals are dedicating their time, talent and resources to this campaign and urging others to as well.On the 25th of October 2018, the Grow Great team gave an interview to Jane Dutton of eNCA News, bringing light to this crisis and outlining their strategy to

"galvanise South Africa towards a future where no child is unjustly denied the opportunity to reach their full potential."

They are targeting parents, community health workers, the public and policy makers to intervene in the stunting crisis. Childcare in poverty-stricken areas with high rates of child abandonment, is often ceded to institutions who provide foster care until the child is adopted - or too old, and then shunted to the next institution for their age group. While any care is better than none, some early childhood development centres intuitively understood the impact of loving care, with excellent nutrition, exercise and stimulation right from birth, long before the research on the topic emerged. By supporting TLC, you are helping us commit to #GrowGreatness with each baby we care for. Over 900 individual babies, and countless other lives have already been impacted - so we thank you!