August is a big month for Bosom Buddies. Women’s month means the
focus nationwide is on the health and well-being is on that of the woman, which
is why it is in the week coming up to Women’s Day, we celebrate breastfeeding
week.
In South Africa our child mortality rates are
alarmingly high and maternal mortality rates are rising. A large
percentage of these deaths are preventable. We believe that through education,
support and constant guidance, we can make a real difference, which is why we
offer breastfeeding education and support groups at our local clinics daily.
In the partnership between public healthcare and BB, we form a holistic care for our mothers. We offer more than antenatal and baby care; it is about life and lifestyle, finding the voice in the mother. I encourage our women to know their rights, to demand quality service and to ask questions.
Our ultimate aim is to significantly reduce stillbirths and infant deaths and to elevate maternal well-being in our area.
In the partnership between public healthcare and BB, we form a holistic care for our mothers. We offer more than antenatal and baby care; it is about life and lifestyle, finding the voice in the mother. I encourage our women to know their rights, to demand quality service and to ask questions.
Our ultimate aim is to significantly reduce stillbirths and infant deaths and to elevate maternal well-being in our area.
Our focus this past breastfeeding week was on two of our new clinics,
Kleinvlei and Grabouw Day Hospital. We have had a presence in these two
facilities since May and during breastfeeding week we decided to spoil our moms
with special treats and gifts. In spite of chilly winds in Grabouw, loads of
women attended. It is a tremendous privilege and often very rewarding to meet
and educate these mothers. Zoleka put it perfectly when she said that that’s
how we roll – every woman leaves rich in knowledge, with a smile on her face!
This Women’s Day I would like to remind our readers again of the women
we at Thembalitsha meet on a daily basis:
·
The HIV
positive mother whose biggest fear is transmitting the disease to her child.
·
The
15-year-old mother who is still a child herself.
·
The young
woman in love who thinks he might love her back if she does not insist on using
a condom.
·
The
Choices mother who feels she has no choice but to give this baby to someone
else.
·
The mother
who goes to hospital with such joyous anticipation but goes home with empty
arms because her baby was born sleeping.
·
The mother
who is having her 6th child because nobody has ever spoken to her
about sterilisation or birth control.
·
The abused
woman who fears her own home and what might happen every night.
·
The
privileged mother who has 3 of her own children, but still feels that she has
the capacity, strength and love to foster or adopt another.
·
Even the
woman who lives on the street and who has given up trying to quit a long time
ago and gives birth to a baby with foetal alcohol syndrome.
·
And also to
the desperate, the depressed, the isolated mother who feels she has no other
choice but to abandon her baby.
Mamas having tea in the postnatal room, Grabouw Day Hospital.
