Helping moms & babies in Bolivia
You are changing the lives of moms and babies. Here’s how.
The Need
Of the 5.2 million children who die around the world each year, 75 per cent die in the first year of life. Babies are at risk of death due to premature birth complications, complications during childbirth, infections, pneumonia and diarrhea. But this is preventable. With training and support, moms in poverty can be empowered to raise healthy and happy babies.
Our Response
Critical care
Your support helps secure access to pre- and postnatal care, skilled birth attendants and medical intervention when necessary.
Home-based care
Mothers are visited in their homes monthly by a Survival specialist, who offers education in prenatal care and early child-rearing as well as one-on-one biblical mentoring.
Group-based learning
At these church-based activities, moms learn skills to earn an income and gain vital knowledge including basic literacy, the importance of breastfeeding and how to prevent malnutrition and disease. These groups combat isolation through a supportive community of mothers who, together, learn about the God who loves them.
Bolivia Stats
Average number of children in household | 5 |
Average age of first-time mothers | 16 |
Births attended by skilled health personnel | 50 |
Stunted growth from malnutrition | 27 |
Activities
Provisions: Survival moms received monthly food baskets containing nutritious food items, so caregivers could prepare nourishing meals for their families. Moms were given Bibles to help encourage families to read the Word of God together, do regular devotionals and share Biblical principles with their children at home. Staff members also distributed hygiene kits to families containing items such as soap and shampoo as well as educational kits including age-appropriate toys for young children.
Physical health: Babies attended regular exams and were given height and weight checks to monitor their development and check for signs of growth delays or malnutrition. Moms and babies attended bi-yearly medical check-ups to assess for illnesses. When needed, mothers and children were given medications and supplements. Pregnant mothers also received prenatal and postpartum care and support from medical professionals and staff members. Moms in Las Barreras also underwent mammograms and were screened for cervical cancer.
Child development: During home visits and group activities, moms learned how to promote their children’s emotional, physical and cognitive development through fun activities and age-appropriate games. In the Patacamaya Survival Program, moms learned how to play a game with their babies in their cribs to promote their memory and language development. Moms in the Humachua Survival Program enjoyed singing songs with their babies and teaching them to clap their hands during a group session. Other activities included learning animal sounds, muscle exercises and parent-child bonding games.
Income generation: Moms had the opportunity to learn marketable skills during income generation workshops. During baking classes, participants were taught how to make pastries, bread, cakes and doughnuts. Moms were able to use these skills to bake delicious foods for their families and sell home-baked goods in their communities. Moms also participated in makeup workshops and decoration workshops so they could use these skills to earn income.
Group activities: Moms attended group workshops where staff members taught lessons on topics such as hygiene, health, nutrition, healthy parenting styles and managing relationships. Moms in Las Barreras participated in friendly group competitions against Survival moms from other churches, helping participants develop their self-confidence and build new skills. Moms gathered once a month in the early stimulation rooms with their babies, where they learned parenting and child development skills. Moms celebrated special events and read the Bible, worshipped and completed devotionals together.
Home visits: Program staff visited moms in their homes to provide one-on-one care, support and education. Staff visited postpartum moms to ensure each mother and newborn received timely care. Staff also provided moms with spiritual nurture through devotionals and prayer and taught moms lessons based on their unique needs on topics like infant nutrition, hygiene, breastfeeding and parenting.
Project Stats
This intervention addressed:
Full-term births | 19 |
Pregnancies | 4 |
Breastfeeding Moms | 15 |
Malnourished Babies - Severely Underweight | 1 |
Attended births | 14 |
Malnourished Babies - Moderately Underweight | 11 |
Normal birth weights | 19 |
Low birth weights | 1 |
ReportA message from a pastor
Greetings and a thousand blessings from our Heavenly Father. What a joy to be able to write to you!
My name is Josue and I am the pastor of the church “Presencia de Dios en las Barreras.” I have been working here since 2016; I started as a youth leader and now I lead the church with a team that accompanies me every week. Because most of us live in Santa Cruz, we make an hour and a half journey to get to church.
I live with my mother and uncles. My neighbourhood is small, but it has a lot of activity at night because the weather during the day is very hot. There is a park near where I live, and I take my five nephews there. I am happy to spend time with them. We also spend time together on the weekends and we go to prayer group on Mondays.
I feel very blessed and joyful for all the support you have given us, both ministerially and economically, since it has helped many mothers and children from an early age. The Survival program is a new experience for our couples. There are many generations and blessed families thanks to the program. Each family experiences different challenges for our implementers to address.
At the beginning, we welcomed many experienced mothers into the program. It was hard to change their mentality when educating them on the care of their babies. In this last year, there are new mothers in the program. Now we have new challenges, such as time constraints and helping moms learn more about their role as mothers as our God tells us.
The first babies from the program are now entering kindergarten and elementary school. It was a challenging change for them, but they adapted well to their school subjects. The church still works with them and their teacher encourages them to learn more.
The community is always on the lookout to see if there is room for new mothers, because when they see the results of the program, they thank God and want to be blessed too. We hope to one day expand our classroom space, which would allow us to create a pleasant space for this new generation.
We pray that the Survival moms will learn how to manage their time effectively and that they will continue to gain confidence in themselves. Thank you very much for everything, my dear brothers and friends, for your help and love. I say goodbye wishing the best for your lives.
Sincerely,
ReportA message from those your gift helped
My name is Shirley and my daughter’s name is Sofia. She is one year old and we have been part of the Survival program since my baby was in my belly.
The Survival program has helped me a lot in different areas of my life, especially spiritually. It has also helped our health, because we have had the opportunity to attend medical checkups where the doctor guides us on how to take care of our health through good nutrition, exercise and rest.
Thanks to all the lessons, I have learned to take good care of my child. Me and my baby have learned many things in the program to take care of ourselves. I have seen my daughter’s healthy growth and I am happy about it.
My favourite activities in the program are the early stimulation activities in the playroom. I also enjoy when we do different workshops. At home, I replicate everything I learn and practise it with my baby.
Thank you for all the support that you have given us. It has been very useful for me and for other mothers who are also part of the program and who are more than grateful to you for supporting this program and that helps reach vulnerable mothers.
I ask for prayer for my community so that God may continue to work in my life. I also ask for prayer for my family, for our health and for our economy so that we may never lack food. And I ask especially for your prayers for the leadership of the church that works hard in this ministry.
Sending you a hug from Bolivia,
ReportA message from a partnership facilitator
I am Arturo, Partnership Facilitator of the church “Presencia de Dios en las Barreras.” By the grace of God, I have been in my role for three and a half years now. I am 42 years old, 12 years happily married to my wife Elizabet, and we have three children (Carlos, Ximena and Alexa), two dogs and a parrot named Precious.
I thank God for your lives because you have been a great blessing for the brothers and sisters of the church, the community and each mother and her family. Sister Cecilia, a Survival program implementer, sends you a hug and many blessings—she is the one who prepares teaching plans to mothers and helps to sow truths. She teaches them that their babies are an inheritance from God, that each child is unique and special, and that no mistreatment of themselves or their children should ever be tolerated. She also guides them on preparing balanced diets, emphasizing that their bodies and their children’s bodies are temples of God.
I believe that the greatest impact of the program is to see changes in the mentality and, consequently, in the lifestyle of the mothers, who in many cases felt like they were living lives without purpose and identity. Now, they have come to find a family in the church. In the church, we can see a growth in attendance, and this is due to the Survival mothers who attend with their children and in some cases with their partners too.
Nayeli is a mother in the program and wants to thank you for your help because through you, she was able to hear the gospel, have a relationship with God and meet a friend like Sister Cecilia. Nayeli has mentioned that each food basket is a great help for her baby because she can feed him properly (the price of food has risen, so a food basket is very expensive). She also thanks the church for the cervical cancer prevention campaign, where they did all the tests and hers came back negative. She always looks forward to visiting the playroom at the centre, where she has been able to help develop her baby’s motor skills.
The church held an event where they took the Survival moms and touched on topics such as forgiveness and the value they have for being created in the image of God. Nayeli told how it changed her way of seeing life and forgiving people who hurt her. She learned to value herself as a person. Moms are now waiting for the next retreat to learn more.
I would like to ask for your prayers for the following causes: for the church, which is graduating this year from the Survival program and wants to continue with it with their own resources[HS1] . We also pray that the mothers of the program and their babies will be a part of the church. We ask for prayers for pastor Josue, brother Natanael and sister Cecilia; may God give them grace and wisdom to carry out their work. Please also pray for the health of sister Cecilia, who has high blood sugar due to diabetes. And finally, please pray that God may give me wisdom so that I may accompany the church and support it in its call.