Two new sponsored families

Everyine and Evan’s mother  Juliana also has three older children, Veronica, aged 10, John, aged 8, and Vivian, aged 6, who are all attending school in a small village called Kakebe.
During pregnancy, Juliana was very unwell, lost a lot of weight and could not eat enough herself. As a result, she was unable to produce enough breastmilk for the twins.
When Everyine and Evans joined Maisha Matters, they were around four months old, and both were severely underweight. Everyine weighed approximately 2.5kg and Evans weighed approximately 2.4kg. Juliana was very worried about their weight, and the family were struggling to afford food each day.   They were usually eating only one or two meals a day, mainly ugali, spinach, beans and vegetables.

Elias is the youngest child of Mariam, who also has two other children, Baraka, aged six, and Luka, aged five. Mariam  has a long-term chronic illness and was advised by doctors not to breastfeed. However, living in extreme poverty, she had no safe alternative way to feed newborn Elias. In desperation, she tried giving him tea and bread, but he became malnourished and unwell with diarrhoea.
The hospital referred Mariam to Forever Angels when Elias was three months old and he weighed just 2.5kg. Elias is HIV-exposed, so he needs careful monitoring, good nutrition and close follow-up to help him recover and grow safely.
The family are in a very difficult situation. Mariam’s husband has left, leaving her with little support, and a previous attempt to grow and sell cassava failed when the crop was poor and the small amount of capital they had was used for medicine when Elias was sick.

Through Maisha Matters, the babies will receive weekly formula milk, regular weighing and close follow-up to help them recover from malnutrition, regular weighing and nutritional support. Mothers Juliana  and Mariam will receive weekly training workshops, encouragement and practical support as she cares for all five of her children.  Over the coming months, we will discuss with Juliana what business she would like to run and we will support her to set that up when she is ready. Mariam will also receive training, encouragement and help to start a business, possibly selling cassava and potatoes, giving her the chance to build a more stable income for her children.