Dubai: When Dubai-based Antonia Amehame, a Croatian from Italy, met Josephine Nalugo, founder of Children In Africa Breastfeeding Support, a Ugandan NGO, for the first time in Dubai last October, little did they know they were on to something big.
The chance meeting at a conference is today making a world of difference to hundreds of lives in Africa, thanks to an unlikely collaboration between the two.
Amehame works as the brand manager for the American cocoa butter skincare product producer Palmer’s and Nalugo supports working mothers, including cocoa farmers, who earn less than a dollar a day. As such, the two had much in common to talk about. It so happened that Nalugo’s NGO worked with six women who made what they called “happy baby carriers” to enable the cocoa farmers to keep their children with them while they were in the field.
“The idea appealed to us so much that Palmer’s decided to financially support the making of these happy baby carriers so more women could benefit from them. In April, we were able to reach out to 500 women and we hope the numbers will grow. We have always supported initiatives for mothers, who use our pre- and post-natal skincare products and believe that if we empower them, we empower the whole community.”
Malnutritioned
The decision to help the women farmers was not without reason. According to Nalugo, these women work long hours in the field and have no one to take care of their newborns. Often, the little ones are left under a tree while the women work and it is only when they cry that the mothers run up to breastfeed them.
“Invariably, the children were malnutritioned while the mothers were exhausted. But the happy baby carriers now provide them constant life support,” said Amehame, adding that the carriers help securely fasten the babies to their mother’s chest while they continue to work on the farm.
She said she manages the communication and funds for Palmer’s from Dubai while Nalugo oversees the project on the ground in Africa. Sometimes, this means Nalugo has to travel for six hours on a bus from Accra to the Ashanti region to New Edububaise, then two hours by taxi to Odumasi. To reach the Western province it takes five hours by bus to Takoradi, and another three hours by taxi to Aiyinasi. If necessary, she even hops on to her motorbike to reach the farms – as long as the happy baby carriers are delivered to the mums that need them.
