On Thursday 28 September members of the Union of Jewish Women handed out baby bags to mothers at Somerset Hospital. It was a very rewarding experience to be able to give such a special and important gift to these new moms.
We are hoping this is the beginning of a wonderful project that will grow from strength to strength and enable new moms to take the best possible care of their babies.
The Baby Bag for Beginners project is a national UJW project started earlier this year. The idea is to give new moms a bag filled with all the essentials both her and her baby need. We have started the project with providing the first bag for each new mom, and with the support of the community we hope to be able to assist with numerous bags throughout the first year of each baby’s life, each of which will assist the mom in looking after and caring for her baby, enabling the baby to reach all the important milestones of his or her first year.
For many who come to Somerset Hospital the challenges are daunting. Most mothers have not accessed pre-natal care and in addition, issues like poverty and single parent homes are the norm. Moms often lea after having their babies with nothing with which to care for their child. These are mostly young women between the ages of 16 and 40 years old. Very few of these women have jobs and the only income they receive is the monthly government grant of R380.
We are hoping that the assistance we are giving them will allow the moms to transition into motherhood in a more gentle and supported manner.
The UJW would like to thank the Cape Town Community for all your help, we could not have done it without your generosity and support and look forward to sharing more of these very special moments with you in the future.
