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  • Our first Baby Box collection

In the lead photo above, Child.org Programming Intern Faith hands a box to new parents Annastacia and Ernest for their baby Samuel. Below, Child.org Programming Officer Cherio hands a box to new parents Leonard and Sylvia for baby Truth. 

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Members of staff at the health centre go through the safe sleeping information printed on the top of each box for all new parents. 

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Babies Diyan and Samuel couldn’t wait to try out their new beds! As you can see, it’s chilly in Kenya at the moment with parents keeping their baby well wrapped up! Each box comes with a snuggly blue baby blanket, as well as a mosquito net.

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Child.org will distribute 500 of these boxes, and follow up with 200 of the families with an in-depth interview at their home within the first three months of the baby’s life.
These interviews will tell us how useful the families are finding the box, and how their experience, including access of postnatal care, differs from that of the new parents we spoke to before the programme began.
We don’t have those findings yet, but we are already collecting obvervations from the box and voucher distributions to highlight areas that we can improve and develop the programme in future. To give you an example, here are some of the observations that Cherio, Doreen and Faith recorded after their visit to the health centres this week, taken from their notes:
The working mothers, especially those that are casual labourers, tend to come for the antenatal care sessions late, at 7-9 months
Women do not know their due date and their scans are often unclear hence making it difficult to know if they are expecting twins
A large number of the mothers are unsure of their due dates 
There is very minimal male involvement as we will rarely see the women’s partners accompany them to the clinics
Teenage girls also come for antenatal sessions late (in their third trimester). A majority of teenage girls seem to be on the move as they seem uncomfortable stating where they live 
Many mothers are unable to read or write, so the Child.org team have to go through the programme and the forms with them very carefully
Hardly any mothers know what postnatal care is
In one health centre, the blood pressure machine is often running low on batteries so mothers are being asked to contribute money to buy new batteries
Some women are curious to know the price of the box and upon informing them that it’s free they ask why it’s free
We look forward to sharing detailed findings with you later in the programme! 
 
If you like how Child.org do things, please do consider giving a regular donation. Having regular, dependable income from the supporters who believe in us most provides the stability we need to be ambitious and plan effectively.

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