One baby boy stood out: he is starting to crawl, to stand, to walk.
Again.
He is two.
He is so traumatised by what he has experienced in his short life that his development has regressed.
These families come from those countries you see on the news: Syria. Iran. Sri Lanka. Afghanistan. It is easy to experience compassion fatigue and not to think about the reality of life for women and their children, just trying to do what we all try to do: raise healthy, happy children. Their breastfeeding questions, asked through interpreters, are exactly the same as I have been asked by 100s of other mothers over the years.
We learned that there is one local barrier they have to frequently deal with - Melbourne's rain. It prevents them accessing some important services because they don't have rain covers on their prams. That is the only form of transport these families have and - understandably - the are reluctant to take their little ones out in a downpour.
This Christmas, we could actually do something practical - mother to mother - that can make a difference.
Buy a universal rain cover for a pram. Something like this. And donate it. Contact me privately and I will give you the details. There are 15 mothers in this current group. They don't know I am asking this and neither do their case workers, working with little to no funding.
Next Thursday is their final gathering for the year - a Christmas break-up.
Update: Easily donate via Paypal -
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| Melbourne's weather - as if they haven't had enought to deal with! |
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