Who we are - Foundation for Mother and Child Health - Indonesia ...-balita sehat ceria

Who we are - Foundation for Mother and Child Health - Indonesia ...

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 08:13 AM PDT

Who we are

The Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH), known locally as Yayasan Balita Sehat, began as a support group for english speaking mothers and has grown into an organisation that provides support and educational programmes for impoverished Indonesian mothers and their children. Our goal is to eliminate malnutrition and the causes of poverty in the communities we serve. In 2001 we opened a mother-and-child centre in South Jakarta and became a registered charity under Indonesian law.

Activities for Indonesian mothers and children

The Foundation for Mother and Child Health/Yayasan Balita Sehat, provides meals, medical care and lessons for both Indonesian mothers and their children. Mothers have access to health education and small skills training programmes and children have the opportunity to benefit from a preschool education and primary school scholarships. Many of the children suffer from undernutrition and all of them come from impoverished backgrounds.

Our staff includes two doctors, five preschool teachers, a programme manager, a medical and educational scholarship coordinator, a handicraft teacher, two sewing teachers, three health educators and a cook. In addition to these paid locally-engaged staff, the centre relies on 8 local volunteer community workers and international volunteers from the UK, New Zealand, Australia and the US. These volunteers help in various roles: nutrition, primary school teaching and nursing/midwifery.

FMCH runs early learning centress (ELCs) in South Jakarta. These centres enable children from poor families to attend preschool. One ELC focuses specifically on providing preschool education for impoverished children living on garbage dumps. In the near future we hope to open another preschool for children from similar backgrounds.

Alongside these early learning centres, FMCH has set up a very successful scholarship system that allows sponsors to fund children through primary school.

Amongst its other activities, the Foundation conducts a series of health education programmes for both mothers and community health workers living and working in urban slum areas in South Jakarta. Classes are given by the Foundation’s team of health educators and community health workers and address topics such as health, hygiene and nutrition.

Programmes conducted at FMCH have grown tremendously and with help from all our important sponsors we hope to see further growth in the future.

The Family Guide to Jakarta

The New Mother Support Group was originally set up to enable expatriate english speaking mothers receive advice from volunteer nurses and midwives on topics such as breastfeeding, weaning and sleep problems. Over time, a committee of expatriate and Indonesian mothers from the Mother & Baby Support Group have worked together to produce a handbook for new parents of all nationalities living in Jakarta: ‘The Family Guide to Jakarta’. Profits from the sale of the book go towards supporting programmes run by the Foundation for underprivileged Indonesian mothers and their children.

Current officers at the Foundation/ Yayasan Balita Sehat

Officers at the Foundation are made up of local salaried staff, unpaid volunteers and a few local consultants.

Yayasan Balita Sehat, Newsletter May 2012, Family Guide to Jakarta

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:33 AM PDT

Yayasan Balita Sehat: Foundation for Mother & Child Health
May 2012 Newsletter

Good News from YBS. May has been a busy and productive month for Yayasan Balita Sehat (YBS). This month, YBS successfully led Global Action Week in Indonesia with many positive outcomes and we will be attending an international convention in Thailand in June for the HER (Health Enables Return) project. We've also launched a new website: visit us at www.fmch-indonesia.org.

We would like to thank the Family Guide to Jakarta and everyone who participated in last month's Baby, Toddler and Kids Sale for their donation of nearly 14 million rupiah. Donations such as this help us carry out our work to develop and improve our Early Learning Centre, Feeding Program, Health Education and other activities to support mothers and children in Jakarta. Finally, we are pleased to announce that we have the necessary funding to support Yogi, a young man affected by TB, to receive vital treatment.

Feeding Program

Despite success with many families, the feeding program, sponsored by the Jakarta International School (JIS), has been experiencing low rates of participation. Some parents with malnourished children have shown low commitment to bringing their children. 5-10 of the 20 children targeted have not been attending regularly. YBS is determined to overcome this issue and achieve our targets to reduce malnutrition in children in Jakarta. The whole team is working hard to make improvements.

In addition to training peer health educators in factories in Tangerang, Sukabumi, Cileungsi, Semarang, Majalengka and Bandung as part of the HER (Health Enables Return) project, YBS is proud to be serving another factory in Cakung. In June, two YBS staff members will be attending the HER project convention in Thailand to discuss its impacts with other non-governmental organisations from countries as diverse as India, Egypt and China who are running the project too.

As mentioned in the previous Family Guide newsletter, YBS successfully led Global Action Week in Indonesia (visit www.csoiefa.org). Working alongside a number of large organisations such as Muslimat NU, PPSW, Yayasan Aulia, YAPARI, YBS hosted sessions such as a parenting discussion about the importance of childrearing, a discussion about early childhood education and treatment, a government hearing, a radio talk show, and a child creativity splash.

With the support of Rotary Club Cilandak, YBS has assisted Yogi, a teenager suffering from TB in a bone in his leg, to undergo a necessary operation. Because of the wounds and infection in his leg, he has been isolated in a small hut with domesticated chickens but thanks to this donation, his life will improve significantly.

Yogi

In May, YBS received 14 million rupiahs from the Baby and Toddler event held by Family Guide, which we will use to support mothers and children in Jakarta and to raise awareness and necessary funding through videos, printing banners and leaflets. As a non-profit organisation, we rely on funds from our donors to communicate our activities to our stakeholders. This income is very valuable to YBS!

Besides the generous donations just mentioned, we also received a contribution of more than 500,000 rupiahs from 3 JIS students aged 7-8 who sold braids that became bangles to fundraise towards activities for mothers at YBS. We are touched by the efforts of these young students.

At the moment, we are encouraging YBS mothers to be more creative. They have been making fabulous children's costumes, recycled products and handicrafts. Great for presents to take home for the summer. Browse and buy at the Highland Gathering or BWA Bazaar or come to our office to order a costume for your little heroes or princesses.

Creativity

Our English volunteer teacher, Sameera, has also been teaching our mothers how to make heat mats for the table and naan bread, which we are now planning to sell! If you have catering experience, we would welcome your views on understanding market demand for such products. Please email us at info@fmch-indonesia.org with your details and we will be in touch.

We would like to thank all our supporters for their generous contributions which allow us to carry out our work. This month, new supporters include the children at JIS, the Rotary Club Cilandak, Crown Relocation who donated 500,000 and, of course, the Family Guide.

Thank you for your support!