CRADLE - help 125 new & expectant Indian mothers

We are quite excited to report that we are fast approaching the launch of the first set of workshops for the first Cradle batch! In the past quarter, we conducted home visits and surveys in our communities. The new program is and will continually be shaped by the needs of the community women. On September 26, the workshops will begin in two centres - Urur Kuppam and Ramapuram. We are all set with our lesson plans and learning kits for the weekly workshops that will be held over a period of 10 weeks. These workshops will be conducted by our team using materials issued by organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, and Canadian Public Health Agency, and adapted to our context. They will also include sessions by external coaches, like gynecologists  and certified breastfeeding advisors. For our very first batch of Cradle Health graduates, we will focus on teaching women about nutrition, their own bodies as well as the development of their babies. 

We have had a breakthrough in finding a community space for the workshops in Urur Kuppam. ‘Kottaai’ is a gazebo in the middle of the Urur Kuppam village which was largely occupied by drunk men. Now, with our regular visits and sessions, it has been taken over by children as a community space for playing and craft. This means it has also become a safe space for the women in Urur Kuppam to attend the Cradle workshops.

We have been conducting individual meetings with women to follow up on what they had reported a few months earlier as well to understand their issues, so that the workshops suitably address them. The final admissions for the workshop are ongoing, and we are welcoming all women who are interested in these workshops. We are also in the process of recruiting staff from each community, who will be responsible for monitoring the progress of participants. 

With the place, content, and staff ready, we are all set to get the ball rolling!