New year, new beginnings

There’s something uniquely refreshing about beginning a new year. At ChildFund, we're looking forward to another year of supporting children to grow up healthy, educated and safe, no matter what challenges they face; because when children have the support they need to thrive, they make their own bright beginnings possible.

Read on for five uplifting stories that celebrate children’s journey to a fresh start.

A box of new beginnings

In Brazil, there are stark inequalities in the infant mortality rate between higher-income communities and lower-income communities. Often because of lack of prenatal education and access to medical care, babies born in lower-income communities are much more likely to face potentially fatal complications.

That’s why ChildFund Brazil and our local partner organization Morada da Floresta launched a project that provides support to new parents by pairing education with much needed baby care items – most notably a “baby box,” inspired by the cardboard cribs sometimes used by mothers in Scandinavian countries.

The baby boxes provide a safe, comfortable space for infants to sleep in their first few months of life. And each box comes with a kit made up of reusable diapers, bath towels, blankets and other hygiene and cleaning materials that new parents find helpful.

Juarita, one mom who participates in the program, has become a big advocate for the baby box. “My experience with the baby box has been great! It was much easier to move [my son] Gabriel around in the house,” she says. “It was really easy to keep the box clean. The reusable diapers and towels were also great and essential to our routine.”

In addition to receiving the wide range of supplies and the box itself, all the mothers in the program were invited to participate in workshops on new baby care, breastfeeding and postpartum self-care.

For Erenice, another mom in the program, the workshops helped provide a critical understanding of how to promote her and her baby’s health and well-being after pregnancy. “It was very important to receive everything,” she says. “I learned a lot from the doctor [who provided training on postpartum self-care], things I had no idea about that helped me a lot.”

More than 50 baby boxes have been distributed, but since many mothers pass the boxes on to other new moms to use, the impact is much greater.

“I wish that every mother could have access to something like this,” Juarita says. “It came as a big help to us – both financially, since it comes full of important items, and to help us have a more peaceful postpartum period because I knew that my baby was safe, secure and comfortable.”

A baby in Brazil naps in a newly gifted baby box.

A new beginning through sponsorship

"Love is not only romantic. Love is what Chris has given me. When you love someone and care about them, you support them with the things they need."

That’s what Henry, 15, from Soroti District, Uganda, tells us about his sponsor, Chris.

When Henry was just 3 years old, his parents left him with his grandparents and never returned. Henry recalls their everyday struggle to find food for him and send him to school.

“My grandparents were very poor and struggled to pay my school fees,” he says. “Sometimes I wouldn’t go to school. Sometimes I would go to sleep hungry because we didn’t have enough food.”

With the help of his ChildFund sponsor, Chris, Henry eventually got the support he needed to live beyond survival mode. Today, he goes to one of the best boarding schools in the area and has access to a new world of opportunities.

“If Chris didn’t sponsor me, I would not be getting a good education. I would be a street boy by now,” Henry says. “It’s like he’s my dad because he takes care of me.”

Henry stands in front of his school in Soroti District, Uganda.

Eunice’s new beginning

A new year is a perfect time to reflect on the memories and experiences that have helped you grow into the person you are today. Eunice Masika, a mom, tailor and shoemaker in Nairobi, Kenya, has known hardship for the majority of her life. Throughout her time living in the Mukuru informal settlement – a neighborhood rife with hazards due to crowded, often unsanitary living conditions – Eunice has survived varying degrees of financial instability, including when a devastating fire destroyed her home and livelihood.

“We were woken up in the middle of the night by loud noises,” Eunice remembers. “When we ran out, we saw a big ball of fire approaching our house. The whole place was on fire, and it was fast approaching. I saved nothing except my family photo albums before I ran to my shop, where I managed to save all my sewing machines. But two were stolen later where I had stored them.”

Fast forward to March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. “It was a struggle like no other, and each passing day was a miracle,” she says.

But with each challenge comes an opportunity for growth, as Eunice has demonstrated time and time again.

Years ago, Eunice had made the decision to join a ChildFund-supported Village Savings & Loan group in her community – a group of women who contribute to a shared savings account every month and help each other save money, start businesses and weather financial hardships together. That decision got her through everything.

Thanks to the Village Savings & Loan group, Eunice was able to start a booming tailoring and shoe business that has allowed her to put her daughter through university. Her business even gives back to the local community by teaching young single mothers how to make clothing.

“There was a teen motherhood crisis in the Mukuru slums at that time, and many young girls were forced to fend for children on their own,” Eunice says. “I decided to start training them on dressmaking, just as I had been trained after completing my primary education.”

When thinking about her decision to participate in ChildFund’s programs, Eunice says, “this support has seen me through the hardest of times, and for that I will always be grateful.”

Eunice Masika sits in front of the garments she has created.

Claudio pays his new beginning forward

One act of kindness always sparks another. In the case of Claudio, a former sponsored child from Brazil, the love and support he received from ChildFund and his own sponsor prompted him to become one himself.

Claudio Araujo grew up in extreme poverty in a small town in Minas Gerais, Brazil. But as a sponsored child enrolled in ChildFund’s career development and mentoring programs, he was able to access an education in computer literacy and typing. Today, Claudio has a family of his own and works as a health administrator for the local municipality, connecting patients with the health care they need.

“If I had not had the opportunities with AMAI (Association Municipal Assistancia Infantil, ChildFund's local partner organization) – training courses, computer literacy, typing, career guidance and mentoring, my sponsor, who encouraged me a lot – maybe nowadays I wouldn’t have the professional qualifications I have, or be the person I am, or have the job I have today,” Claudio says.

“I decided to sponsor Pérola as a way to give back for the sponsorship I received. It feels great to have the opportunity to help a child. Not just a child, but her family too. And if today I’m a sponsor, it’s because I’ve seen life from the opposite side.”

Claudio holds up a photo of his sponsored child.

New beginnings in Sierra Leone

Not every new beginning has a smooth start. For moms in Sierra Leone, it’s quite the opposite, in most cases. According to UNICEF, the maternal mortality rate in Sierra Leone is the highest in the world, making the country one of the riskiest places to have a baby.

One mom, Isatu, says that “nine years ago, I did not think I would be alive today. Where I was, there was no health facility. When I got pregnant, there was no health practitioner to talk to me.”

This is a common experience for mothers in Sierra Leone. Many women give birth without access to a health facility, health practitioner or medicine to help the mother and baby stay healthy and safe.

It’s a problem that ChildFund Sierra Leone has been working to help solve. Through our gifts in kind program, we have donated medical equipment worth $34,771 to the Ola During Hospital in Freetown – the largest pediatric hospital in Sierra Leone – as well as various other medical and pharmaceutical supplies to the government of Sierra Leone to help ensure that children have a strong start in life.

When she got pregnant with her second child, “it was different,” Isatu says. “I started attending prenatal clinic for the first time. And I was able to get medicine for free.

“What could make me happier than seeing my children in good health?”

Isatu with her two children, Alice, 9, and Salamatu, 1.

There’s nothing like a beautiful new beginning to remind us that when we have the support we need in life, we can do anything.