SMILING THROUGH THE STORM: FINDING SILVER LININGS IN THE MIDST OF THE PANDEMIC
The past six months have truly been extraordinary. All 7.5 billion of the world's people have courageously faced the COVID pandemic. This has brought great suffering, both in terms of the loss of almost one million of our loved ones as well as severe economic hardship, especially for the poorest in the global south. The families that we serve in the Rakai and Kyotera Districts of Uganda are no strangers to adversity or pandemics. Our communities were ground zero for the AIDS crisis for the past 40 years. But out of even the darkest of times, there emerge silver linings.
For the past two years, thanks to your support and that of the Grand Challenges Canada Saving Brains Program, our Mama Ambassador Program has supported 430 adolescent mothers through peer support parenting groups. With the COVID shutdown, our staff and mothers had to completely redesign our program to ensure our mothers and babies were safe. Our inspiring video, Smiling Through the Storm, allows our mothers and Mama and Papa Ambassadors to tell their stories of love and commitment in the face of adversity. You can watch by clicking on the video below.
Supporting our communities through this crisis has called upon us all to rise to the challenge. In order to ensure that our families are healthy and safe we have had to take on significant costs. For example, we now make home visits to our adolescent mothers, rather than gathering them centrally at our district hospital. In the midst of this crisis, your donation of just $25 will allow us to continue to improve maternal and newborn health for the thousands of families we serve.
Please consider helping us through these most perilous times by clicking DONATE Now more than ever, we are all in this together.
Thank you as always for your generous support.
