Education India Project #36575

CRADLE - help 125 new & expectant Indian mothers

by Pudiyador Association for Community Empowerment

Project Report | Jul 14, 2020
Pudiyador's Cradle Health Program has gone virtual

By Jessica Broder | Outreach Director

Egg distribution to cradle mothers

Cradle Health mothers received three rounds of emergency relief distributions in April and May of 2020. A strict lockdown was reimposed on June 29th, and general lockdown will remain in effect until July 31st. As an organization, we are unsure of the needs of our mothers and communities in the weeks ahead. We continue to communicate with our beneficiaries and we are ready to take the necessary steps should a need arise.

Virtual Cradle Health Sessions:

Due to the pandemic, our cradle health sessions have gone virtual! Our mothers have been meeting weekly to connect and learn! We took the initial 2-3 sessions to train our mothers in attending video conferences and familiarizing themselves with zoom. These sessions also gave us a better understanding of how rudimentary access and usage of technology can be within shanty communities. Subsequently, we have conducted sessions on essential nutrition supplements, storytelling and much more! All of our sessions are supported by knowledgeable experts and professionals.

Most recently, our mothers discussed the importance of storytelling and how it helps with their infant’s brain development. We loved the creativity and excitement that the mothers expressed in this session.

Many of our mothers are grateful for these sessions. Since lockdown was imposed back in March, many of our mothers are no longer willing to go to the hospital for small checkups or issues. Nithya (our program coordinator) recounts that many questions have been asked in the past few weeks including: what should be done if their baby is not eating? How to regulate sleeping habits during lockdown and so on. These sessions have been helpful in answering mothers queries and concerns with trained professional support. Additionally, we have recognized that most of our cradle mothers are not receiving sufficient nutritious meals, especially given lockdown and the financial strain that this pandemic has put on many families. We are now working with the community vegetable vendor (pictured above) in Kakkan Colony to provide essential supplements such as eggs or chickpeas on a weekly basis.

Spotlight on Viji:

Viji, our cradle health staff member in Kakkan Colony community has been at the forefront of all relief efforts in this community. Viji joined Pudiyador back in March, after taking part in the pilot for Cradle Health. Additionally, her daughter attends our Children’s after-school program. More recently, you can find Viji (with the help of her entire family) spearheading immediate relief efforts within their community. Their printing shop was converted into the central location for community-based relief kit distributions. With the help of her family's vast network, Viji compiled a comprehensive list of families in need (excluding existing Pudiyador beneficiaries) within their community. Thanks to her networking, organization and coordination, Viji single handedly helped Pudiyador extend our support to an additional 50 families.

Looking ahead:

Once circumstances stabilize (and they will!), Nithya and Viji will pilot an awareness program for two dozen young women on the consequences of early pregnancies and family planning. We are hoping that this will take place in the autumn of 2020. For now, both women are running sessions virtually for our Cradle Health mothers and are encouraging mothers (and their infants) to stay indoors to keep safe and healthy. We will continue to update you on the situation in Chennai as things develop.

Recap: Pudiyador indefinitely suspended all operations on March 18th 2020 in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. India declared a 21 day nation-wide lockdown on March 24th that in hotspots like Chennai, had continued with small breaks in extensions to contain the spread. Our Ground Team and teachers continue to work from home, organize relief efforts (including The Feed Chennai Initiative) and are now running programs virtually. Additionally, they continue to work ahead in lesson planning and capacity building! Visit our relief website for a timeline of action taken by Pudiyador against COVID19 and for real time updates: https://sites.google.com/pudiyador.org/covid-19-relief

Virtual session with cradle health mothers

Viji in Kakkan Colony community earlier this year

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Apr 27, 2020
Pudiyador & Cradle Health during the pandemic

By Jessica Broder | Outreach Director

Mother & child receiving emergency relief package

Pudiyador indefinitely suspended all operations on March 18th 2020 in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. India declared a 21 day nation-wide lockdown on March 24th that was recently extended until May 3rd in efforts to contain the spread. Our Ground Team and teachers continue to work from home, organize relief efforts (including The Feed Chennai Initiative) and work ahead in lesson planning and capacity building! Visit our relief website for a timeline of action taken by Pudiyador against COVID19 and for real time updates: https://sites.google.com/pudiyador.org/covid-19-relief

In the days leading up to the lockdown, all Cradle Health mothers received workshops in groups of five or less about COVID-19: facts and myths, preventative methods, steps to take if infection is suspected, and the opportunity to ask questions. Cradle Health mothers also received practical workshops on physical distancing, hand-washing, and the transfer of viruses across surfaces.

Viji (one of recent cradle graduates) from Kakkan Colony community was hired a few weeks prior to the lockdown and was/continues to work closely alongside Nithya (our program coordinator). Viji has played a key role in distributing relief packages in Kakkan Colony. On April 6th and April 23rd, Viji spearheaded distributions to all 48 Pudiyador families in the community. All Cradle Health mothers received emergency grocery packages containing the follow items:

7kg rice
1kg toor dal,
1L oil
1kg sugar
1kg wheat flour
1kg onion
1kg potato
1 pack sanitary napkins
1 dozen eggs
100g ghee
1/2kg green gram

Looking ahead!

As Nithya reflects upon the pilot program in Kakkan Colony community, she is positive that there is room to build a strong network of educated women within this community. She also believes that our pilot program is scalable, and has the potential to have a multiplier of impact within other communities. Once this pandemic settles (and it will!), Viji will take on the responsibility of tracking and following up with the women (and their infants) that graduated from our pilot program, as well as gathering more data on our designated stakeholders within Kakkan Colony: newly wedded young women, pregnant women and mothers with infants. Circumstances permitting, we intend to pilot an awareness program for two dozen young women on the consequences of early pregnancies and family planning in the summer of 2020.

For now, Nithya and Viji are checking up with all our mothers via phone and remain indoors to stay safe and healthy. We will continue to update you on the situation in Chennai as things develop.

Viji (in pink) distributing relief packages

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Mar 4, 2020
Cradle Health at Kakkan Colony - March Update

By Jessica Broder | Outreach Director

Our first graduated batch of Cradle Health Mothers

Success! We are excited to announce that six mothers have completed our 10 week Cradle Health Program in Kakkan Colony community. As mentioned in our previous reports, these workshops have been broken down to cover a variety of topics including nutrition, mental health, early child development and fears surrounding pregnancy. As Nithya (our Program Director), reflects upon this journey with these mothers, she is very positive that there is room to build a strong network of educated women and mothers within this community. She has three highlights from this batch of women that she would like to share with our supporters:

“One of the mothers, Viji Akka, told me that she had stopped hitting and scolding her first baby because of our sessions and everything that she was learning. This made me feel like I was having a real impact on the mothers in this community.”
“I tried to learn a lot about early child brain development because I knew this was something the mothers wanted to discuss. However, I was struggling to breakdown the complicated terminology and explain things in a simple way for the mothers. My co-worker (Nithya aka. Nutty) was very supportive and helped me understand the terms and plan accordingly. At the end of the 10 weeks, the mothers said that the information of early child brain development was their favourite topic and this made me very happy because I had put in a lot of work and time for this topic.”
“At the end of every single session, Jayapradha Akka and Mahalakshmi Akka would ask me about next week’s topic so that they could think during the week and come prepared the following Saturday. Also, every Friday, I would get calls from the different mothers to confirm that the session would be happening the next day. This made me feel very happy and also motivated me to be responsible and plan ahead. It was a very nice experience to be working with such an enthusiastic batch.”

Planning ahead, we are in the process of hiring a Cradle Health staff member for Kakkan Colony community. Nithya is looking for a motivated and energetic woman, preferably from the community, to take up this position. Ideally, we hope to be hiring one of our recent graduates! This staff member will take on the responsibility of tracking and following up with the women (and their infants) that graduated from our program. This staff member will also be the primary point of contact should mothers be wanting to reach out on a weekly basis. Their third and most important responsibility will be to take a census of newly wedded women within the community and to accordingly start an awareness program for these young women on the consequences of early pregnancies and family planning. All of this would happen under the guidance and support of Nithya.

Additionally, as we look to grow our programming within Kakkan Colony, Nithya is already taking steps to ensure that this batch of women continue to play active roles in their community. Magalir Mattums (women-only spaces) have recently been introduced to Kakkan Colony community. Nithya was very impressed to see that the majority of the Cradle Health graduates not only attended, but brought neighbours, sisters and friends to this meeting. Nithya envisions Magalir Mattums in Kakkan Colony being safe and political spaces in which women discuss community issues and take action. Nithya hopes to be able to create strong ties between her Cradle Health Programming and Magalir Mattum meetings in the months ahead! More updates to come soon :)

P.s We hope to have Cradle Health up and running in our second community (Ramapuram) by April!

One of our final sessions in Kakkan Colony

23 women attended the Magalir Mattum!

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