Colgate-Palmolive, Nicaragua – Our New Partner!

When Colgate-Palmolive, Nicaragua heard about ORPHANetwork’s mission and our focus on health and hygiene they quickly wanted to get involved and contribute. Two Colgate representatives attended our recent quarterly trainings where they instructed our church partners and orphanage directors on dental hygiene, and explained the products in the 12,000 kits that Colgate-Palmolive would soon be donating for our children.

Last week we received 4,032 kits containing toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap as well as posters, brochures, and DVDs with great messages on dental care and the importance of hand washing. The next 8,000 kits are on the way and they will go to our partners, On Eagles’ Wings, in Northern Nicaragua.

Colgate-Palmolive, Nicaragua, we thank you for caring about our children’s health and for the lives that will be blessed because of your generosity.

Supporting New Mothers in Nueva Vida

In an effort to stop malnourishment before it even threatens our children we are piloting a new program to train, educate, and care for 60 breastfeeding and new mothers in Nueva Vida.  Dr. Janice Hebbert, our Medical Director, and Flavia Urbina, our Nutritionist, are leading this initiative which will monitor the health of both expecting and new mothers as well as their babies, and provide counseling on health care and adequate nutrition during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.  Through this program the women will also learn how to prepare for breastfeeding and they will be given vitamin supplements during pregnancy and up to six months after the birth of their baby.

The initiative will include visits from our medical team to the households of the pregnant mothers, retreats with other women in the program, leadership from the pastors’ wives, discipleship, and training which will include seminars, workshops, and educational videos. Some of the topics for the trainings and seminars include: physiological changes in women during pregnancy, fetal development, the benefits of breastfeeding, women’s rights, gender equality, maternal and paternal responsibility, self-esteem, and improving food and nutrition security at home.

What an immense blessing this program will be to the new mothers, their babies, their families, and the communities in which they live.  The church is providing resources that have never been available to women in these communities before.  Through this initiative not only will we begin to stop malnourishment before it harms our children, but even better than that, new families will learn about God’s love for each and every one of us.