News & Project Updates

 Sumatra earthquake appeal: rebuilding pre schools - November 2009

On September 30th a huge earthquake struck the coast of Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia. A thousand men, women and children were killed, over one thousand injured and thousands remain homeless.

Many buildings were damaged - whole villages were completely demolished in landslides. Roads collapsed and thousands of schools were damaged. Latest figures show that at least 5,700 schools were damaged, though the number could be much higher.
The Foundation for Mother and Child Health, working with their long term partner Yayasan Balita Sehat have now decided to focus on the rebuilding of 10 pre schools in the area providing education for 500 children.

Pre schools not only provide a base from where young children learn basic literacy and numeracy, but they also provide a base from which mothers can receive basic health education from local community health workers. These health workers also double up as pre school teachers.

We need to raise £20,000 in total to fund this project which we estimate will last for between 6-8 months. 

Please will you help? To donate, click here

We pledge that 99% of your funding will go directly to assist the children and families most affected by this disaster. The amount we are able to help is directly related to the amount we can fundraise

Some international aid agencies will be paying £20,000 to get an advert in newspapers. We know that 99p out of every pound you give to us gets to where you want it to be.

BREAKING NEWS:  Sumatra disaster appeal -  OCTOBER 2009

Last week a huge earthquake struck the coast of Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Early estimates indicate that a thousand men, women and children have died, over one thousand are injured and thousands are still missing.

Many buildings are damaged; some villages have been completely demolished in landslides. Roads have collapsed; telephone and electricity lines are down - all leading to severe disruption in the area.

Children and women from the affected areas are in critical need of help. They have no safe drinking water, no ability to help the injured, no shelter and no means of cooking food.

They urgently need clean water, basic medical supplies, tents, cooking fuel, clothing and underwear. All of these are necessary for the immediate survival of families and particularly, children.

We are gearing up a rapid response to reach the most vulnerable; this is literally a matter of survival for thousands. If this does not happen, disease is likely to become endemic and many will suffer from the repercussions.

We need to raise £20,000 in the next fortnight to fund our small team of Indonesian health workers. There are few iNGOs in this area. They will take with them the supplies that are desperately needed. 

Your donation will help buy and deliver clean water, shelter, food and medical supplies to those who most need it.

Please will you help? To donate, click here

We pledge that 99% of your funding will go directly to assist the children and families most affected by this disaster. The amount we are able to help is directly related to the amount we can fundraise

Some international aid agencies will be paying £20,000 to get an advert in newspapers. We know that 99p out of every pound you give to us gets to where you want it to be.

With our past experience working in Aceh after the 2004 Asian tsunami, FMCH and local partner YBS – Yayasan Balita Sehat -- will initially focus on the provision of aid to families and then focus on medium-term support for women and children.

Visit our Facebook Cause page for the earthquake relief efforts

News and project updates – September 2009

Trustees of FMCH held their AGM in late September. The full report will be posted on our website soon, but the keys points are as follows:

West Timor

Seven pre schools have now been set up giving 210 children the opportunity to start learning at a young age. Six of these schools are now registered with the Dept of Education with a seventh pending.

Health education for mothers and community health workers in the villages continues to be popular. Twenty nine community health workers have attended training programmes so far and between them they look after around 1400 people.

2,500 children have been de-wormed which will help improve their nutritional status enormously…intestinal worms being one of the leading causes of anaemia and micronutrient deficiency.

Jakarta

Scholarship programme for primary school children continues to be very popular with 75 children benefiting from this programme.

In a new development this year, our health educators and pre school teachers are now being asked to teach other NGO’s and pre schools and small charities how to run health education programmes and early learning centres for young children.

India

The Intensive Feeding Programme for pregnant & lactating women and children under the age of 5 years has proved very successful.
The malnutrition rate of children attending the programme, estimated in the very early stages at 70%, were brought down to 55% in August 2007 and to 34% in Jan 2008 and 26% in January of 2009.

The pre-school continues to be popular with 36 children attending on a regular basis.

Azerbaijan

Our work in Azerbaijan is with women who, having fled Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Chechnya due to war and political upheaval, have registered themselves and their families with UNHCR in Baku and are now refugees.

Programmes have so far focused on the facilitation of skills training programmes: sewing programmes including learning how to use sewing machines, how to make dress patterns and then make dresses for themselves, cross stitching, and making painting aprons for children out of recycled plastic sachets…an idea taken from our projects in Jakarta.

A small micro credit scheme has also been set up giving women the opportunity to buy a sewing machine, and pay for it in interest free instalments.

News and project updates – June 2009

The implementation of nutrition, health education and pre school programmes in West Timor are proving to be far more successful than we dared hope.

One village has built, by hand, a brand new pre school where at least 30 children under the age of 6 gather each day to sing songs and learn simple lettering and numbers through drawing and play. Another 4 pre schools have been set up in existing community buildings providing similar educational activities for young children.

Enthusiastic mothers from the village have been trained up as pre school teachers and the schools themselves are gradually being registered with the local department of education.

Children are weighed and measured on a regular basis and those needing extra food are being invited to attend feeding programmes with their mothers. Community health workers cook a nutritious meal made from carbohydrates such as corn, potatoes or rice and green vegetables - provided by mothers – and animal protein (chicken or eggs), cooking oil and iodised salt being provided by FMCH. Mothers bring along food they have grown themselves on their plots of land.

One of our Trustees came from the UK and visited all the West Timor projects to the great amusement of all the villagers.

News and project updates – March 2009

In the midst of daily headlines of doom and gloom, it is easy to forget that half a world away, people are struggling with the realities of living on the poverty line - making decisions about how to feed their families, fetch water, and get adequate healthcare.

The Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH) team working in West Timor, have become increasingly concerned at the appalling levels of nutrition found amongst young children.

At the moment, West Timor is experiencing a severe drought, which is leading to malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency and the possibility of permanent brain damage in thousands of young children.

Working in three remote rural villages, our most recent statistics (2009) show that 65% of all children under the age of five are severely or moderately underweight. If ALL underweight children are included, including mildly underweight children, the figure rises to an enormous 88% of children are underweight.

In order to counteract this serious problem we need to increase the number of intensive feeding programmes running in these villages, and that means raising more money to pay for the food.

The FMCH team is also working hard to set up an agricultural programme teaching the community how to raise chickens. The team is working in collaboration with the heads of each village and local officials from the West Timor department of Animal Husbandry.

Chickens are relatively cheap to rear and are an excellent source of animal protein for all the family.

Sanitation is very poor. There is no piped water and no water pumps. Water has to be carried in buckets from the river each morning and evening, or bought from a tanker…a cost that is too much to bear for the majority of families.

If you are reading this and you are an engineer and would like to make a practical contribution to our programmes, please contact us on contact@fmch.co.uk.  Your expertise would be most welcome.

£15 provides a family with 3 chickens which will provide an ongoing source of food. It could make the difference between a child getting enough protein, or not.

£100 will pay for a course of intensive feeding for 4 children.

We would really appreciate your help with this programme. Any contribution, however small, will make a huge difference to the lives of these children.

News and project updates - January 2009

A very Happy New Year to all our supporters around the world, and a special thank you to all our volunteers who helped us throughout 2008.

Our volunteers help in a number of ways – fund raising in the UK, Indonesia, India, USA and Australia; teaching English to children attending FMCH pre schools; measuring and weighing babies at our mother & baby support groups; editing the ‘Family Guide to Jakarta’; and generally providing support in all our programmes.

This year, with the global credit crunch having an impact on everyone, there is a greater need to focus hard on raising the necessary funds to continue to develop our programmes. It provides us with the challenge of coming up with some innovative ideas.

At The Foundation for Mother and Child Health we believe that every child, regardless of their race, creed or gender is entitled to good health care, nutritious food and decent education.

Our work with women and children living in the urban slums of Jakarta and Mumbai and in rural poverty in West Timor have a huge impact on the lives of future generations.

A donation, however small, will make a huge difference to the lives of many children.

Please help us to continue our valuable work.

News and project updates - December 2008

India

Like everyone around the world, we watched with horror the scenes unfolding in Mumbai during the last week of November.

Fortunately, no one directly involved with the Foundation for Mother and Child Health in Mumbai was hurt or injured during these terrible events, however our staff knew people who were directly involved.  Our thoughts go out to them and all the families affected.

Through our health, education and skills training programmes at FMCH, people from all religions and cultures are introduced to one another and they have a chance to interact with and learn from people with different backgrounds and beliefs.

This fosters an understanding between communities and individuals who might never normally mix and, we hope, helps bring about increased tolerance and understanding within the communities we serve.

News and project updates - November 2008

INDONESIA

Jakarta

Ira Lembong, co Founder of the Foundation for Mother and Child Health in Indonesia - Yayasan Balita Sehat - was honoured to be presented to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on his visit to Jakarta in early November.

She was delighted to have had the opportunity to tell Prince Charles about the Foundation and its projects. An experience she will remember for a long time!

The Indonesian government has passed a new Bill allowing everyone the opportunity to set up an Early Learning Centre, thereby increasing access to early learning for all children.

There will be a need for training courses to be set up, allowing members of the community the opportunity to train to become pre school teachers.

FMCH is planning to utilize its experience in this field by setting up and offering training courses to interested members of the community.

West Timor
Preliminary results from our programmes in West Timor, show that out of 130 under 5 year old children, 63% are underweight and 87% are anaemic.

Our West Timor web pages are currently under construction and we expect very shortly to report in detail on all our programmes.

AZERBAIJAN

Baku

Co Founder of the Foundation for Mother and Child Health, Barbara Jayson, currently posted in Azerbaijan, is delighted to be working with refugee women from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Chechnya in a women’s refugee centre in Baku, the capital city.

These women, fleeing war, poverty or persecution, are desperately trying to keep their families’ together whilst waiting to be resettled in other countries.

Combining ideas from FMCH in Indonesia together with these refugee women’s natural sewing, knitting and beading skills, it is hoped that these skills training programmes will go from strength to strength.

We are currently looking for donations of soft wool and knitting patterns to make baby clothes.

News and project updates - October 2008

Jakarta

Mobile Health Unit

FMCH is thrilled to report that the initial group of women participating in skills training sessions, have absorbed knowledge so quickly that they are now able to work on their own.

They will be offered the opportunity to participate in a micro finance scheme whereby they can borrow a small amount of money in order to set up their own business from home.

The success of this programme allows FMCH to move to a different area in East Jakarta, teaching similar skills to women from low income communities.

West Timor

FMCH Health Initiative

A FMCH team consisting of a medical doctor, 2 health educators, pre school teacher, programme manager and translator are all in West Timor to start the FMCH Health Initiative.

The West Timor Health Initiative will concentrate on implementing programmes that have proved successful in Jakarta – the provision of health education to mothers, training pre school teachers, training community health workers, checking nutrition levels in young children and providing intensive feeding programmes where necessary, basic medical care and skills training for mothers.

A new web page within this site is being set up specifically to report on this valuable new programme.

News and project updates - September 2008

Scholarship awarded to FMCH Regional Manager

FMCH Jakarta is thrilled to announce that its regional manager, Asih Pujirahayu has just returned from Washington DC where she was attending the ‘Global Women in Management: Building Leaders for Development’ course. 

Asih was one of two women selected from within Indonesia who was awarded an all expenses paid scholarship to attend this month long course.

The Global Women in Management Programme aims to strengthen the management and leadership ability of women working in NGO’s from all over the world.

Asih attended courses on developing leadership skills, communications skills, effective fund raising, developing partnerships, understanding advocacy and developing and applying management skills.

We are sure Asih’s experience will help the Foundation for Mother and Child Health go from strength to strength, and comes at a time when FMCH is just about to increase its health, skills training and education programmes in West Timor.

Increasing programmes in West Timor

Having initially trained pre school teachers and worked with poor mothers living in the small rural village of Anin in West Timor last year, we are looking forward to setting up the second phase of our work in this remote island within the Indonesian archipelago.

Our assessment in May this year, with FMCH Chairwoman Barbara Jayson joining us from Azerbaijan, showed that this very poor area is in desperate need of help. With an average income of just 50 cents per day, and malnutrition evident in almost every child, these people need all the help they can get.

As the Church World Service says ‘Against the backdrop of a rapidly worsening world food crisis, more than 91 percent of households in Indonesia's West Timor region are suffering hunger and alarming levels of malnutrition because of inadequate access to food’.

‘In four West Timor districts surveyed, CWS reported about 50% of infants and young children are moderately and/or severely underweight–-significantly higher than in African countries overall, where 21.9 percent of small children are underweight, according to a January report in The Lancet’.

Our FMCH Jakarta team returns to West Timor at the end of August to oversee the FMCH health, nutrition, education and skills training programmes in this vulnerable area.

Sponsorship for this project is hugely important. Every donation, however large or small, counts.

It costs us just  12 USD per month to train a community health worker – who will in turn look after several families.

Mobile unit – Jakarta, Indonesia

Thanks to generous sponsorship from all over the world, The Foundation for Mother & Child Health (FMCH) was thrilled to announce the start of the new mobile unit programme in Jakarta earlier this year.

Sponsorship of staff, equipment and a van has provided the means by which FMCH now has the mobility needed to reach some of the poorest communities in East Jakarta.

News and project updates - August 2008

Pre school education & health education

In an urban slum area in East Jakarta, where most people live in simple shacks made of wood, brick or corrugated iron and houses overhang a fetid river, FMCH has started a small pre school programme for 25 children aged between 3 and 6 years old.

Children come here on a daily basis to learn simple literacy and numeracy skills through play and song.

Whilst children are learning through play, their mothers have their own lessons: in health and nutrition. Discussions are held in groups on topics such as the best types of food to feed young children, which vaccinations children should be given, what to do if a child has a fever, how to reduce the number of dengue mosquitoes in their area and other similar concerns.

Sustainable skills training & health education

In a nearby area interest amongst women in learning a sustainable skill has been huge.

FMCH has started by offering a small number of women (22) the chance to start learning sewing skills. Showing enormous interest in the making of re-cycled products such as make-up bags, playmats and shopping bags, these women will very soon be able to improve their family’s monthly income using their newly learnt skills.

Once proficient, women in this initial group will be offered the opportunity to work with FMCH and offer similar training to other mothers in their community.

Now looking for further sponsorship to enable this and our other projects to continue and expand, the Foundation for Mother and Child Health invites you to look at our website to find out about all our other programmes in Indonesia and India.

The Foundation for Mother and Child Health contact@fmch.co.uk © 2002-2009 The Foundation for Mother and Child Health www.motherandchildhealth.org