I have been living in Mumbai now for just under 3 years. My first year was full of adjustments, assimilations and logistics. I am sure you can all appreciate the fulltime job that requires. Not to mention I was determined to continue my career as an international teacher. Well the teaching thing didn’t go according to plan due to being a local hire and visas so I went down the entrepreneurial route of private tutoring and volunteering at the school. I kept myself busy but by the end of year 2 I felt incredibly unfilled. Hibernation became the key to survival as days passed into months until finally summer arrived.
Now many people come to Mumbai and immediately get involved helping local NGOs, becoming immersed in activities to support the unfortunate, especially children, but somehow I missed that window. In the beginning, I think I was too overwhelmed getting myself and my family taken care of and then I really think that I became completely desensitized to the poverty and inhumanity that assaulted me daily. I’m not proud to admit this, but there it is.
This year, however, by complete chance, I had the opportunity to meet Rosie Penryhn Jones at a Gloria Jean’s coffee shop in Powai. Through some casual chit chat she began telling me about an NGO she co-founded with Barbara Jayson which provided health, nutrition, education and sustainable skills training programs for mothers, children and community health workers in disadvantaged communities in Indonesia. She also explained that a member from the Indonesian branch, Leena Godiwala-Deubet had brought the foundation to India. It is currently working to provide health and nutrition to children and mothers in Mumbai in Ganesh Nagar, a slum community housing 390 families totalling almost 2000 people. Residents there live in cramped and unsanitary conditions.
Her passion and commitment to this cause made me pause to examine my own life in that moment. Could I say I was as committed and passionate to something, anything in my life, besides my family? Sadly the answer was no.
Rosie gave me her card and I went home that day and began reading up on the website Foundation for Mother and Child Health www.motherandchildhealth.org. The organization, founded in 2001, has helped many families and children from Jakarta and West Timor and responded to the crisis in Sri Lanka and Aceh after the devastating tsunami in 2004, and the Sumatra earthquake in 2009. They have also provided skills training for refugees living in Azerbaijan where women from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Chechnya all had the opportunity to learn new skills such as quilting, pattern making and computing and joined micro finance schemes enabling them to become self sufficient, and stand more chance of a successful life in a welcoming country.
My interest was growing and I felt this stirring deep down telling me that this held more meaning for me then just simple appreciation. I met with Rosie a few weeks later to discuss how I could help and become involved. As she spoke about the modest beginnings of the organization and their accomplishments over the years, I felt myself not only wanting, but needing to be involved. This was a cause I too, felt very strongly about and now finally, I had found an outlet for my energy. She showed me photos of her visit down the FMCH and shared with me some shocking statistics about India.42% of children under 5 are malnourished. Times of India, Jan 2012 / Hungama report
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- For every 10 children under 3 born to illiterate mothers, 5 are underweight - too thin for their age. This is a sign of malnutrition
- For every 10 children under 3 born to illiterate mothers, 5 are stunted - too short for their age. This is the sign of chronic malnutrition
- For every 10 children under 3 born to illiterate mothers, 2 are wasted i.e. too thin for height. Fat and muscle have been used up for energy. This is a sign of acute malnutrition and the child is at risk of dying from malnutrition or from any common clinical disease like diarrhea or respiratory illnesses
- For every 10 children born to illiterate mothers, 8 are anemic. Anemia can lead to poor cognitive performance in school.
- For every 10 children born, 3 are born underweight
- For every 10 children born, 5 children are fed only breast milk for first 6 months as recommended
With all of the media attention and Global markets focusing on India as an emerging market and “the next big thing” next to China, it still has the highest rate of malnutrition in the world with very little government intervention to resolve the issues. FMCH is clearly focused and driven to reduce these numbers and give these children, India’s future, a fighting chance.
Currently FMCH India tackles malnutrition “in innovative ways, every day”. It aims to increase knowledge on health and nutrition issues amongst the community through classes, medical consultations, home visits, vaccinations, counseling, family planning advice and cooking classes. A dedicated team of professionals, both employed and volunteer, Indian and expatriate, provides these services, currently working with 533 families - and counting. Women from the community are trained to help. Children who have benefitted from their interventions in the past are notably more healthy and do very well at school.
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| Local women making Nutri-bars at the Ganesh Nagar Clinic |
Looking at the statistics and living daily in the chaos and poverty of Mumbai, I am a little overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task set before FMCH in their fight against malnutrition but, and I say this with all that makes me a mother, woman and educator, I am even more inspired to be part of a team so committed to the future of children that my desire and passion to help is infinite.
If you would like to know more about The Foundation for Mother and Child Health in India or make a donation , please visit www.motherandchildhealth.org/india.html
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