Act of Kindness #1- Providing at-home visits for Maternal and Child Healthcare
The 1,000 Days of Difference program was launched in 2017 to help improve child and maternal health outcomes in the community of Villa Guadalupe in Managua, Nicaragua. In Villa Guadalupe, child and maternal health risks are especially threatening. Among many other risk factors, the community has high rates of adolescent, high-risk, and unintended pregnancies; low rates of exclusive breastfeeding; and high rates of child diarrhea and pneumonia, which are the top two causes of child mortality in Nicaragua.
The 1,000 Days program provides free pre- and postnatal care, breastfeeding support, nutrition education, preventive pediatric care, and postnatal family planning to high-risk pregnant mothers and their babies during the critical first 1,000 days of life. In addition to making services affordable, the program also aims to be accessible to new mothers by utilizing home visits. Rather than require frequent visits to the clinic, our community Nurse, Selma, and a nutritionist from partner organization Soy Nica do weekly participant home visits to check in with our new mothers, troubleshoot breastfeeding problems, and identify any possible health issues.
By offering easily accessible medical care and education to participants at no cost, the 1,000 Days of Difference program makes it possible for women and children who would otherwise have very limited access to quality healthcare to receive those important services right in their own neighborhood!
Act of Kindness #2- Community Clinic Volunteers
In April of this year, Managua became the center of a political crisis that erupted throughout Nicaragua. As a result of the political instability, Manna unfortunately had to send our Program Directors home and put most of our community programs on pause. However, thanks to the dedication of our amazing local staff, our two community clinics and our 1,000 Days of Difference programs were able to continue operating.
Local volunteers were also a huge help at our Cedro Galán clinic by helping to pick up some of the work previously done by our Program Directors. Public schools were closed for months at the beginning of the political crisis, and rather than use their free time to hang out with their friends, some of our previous Generation students started volunteering at the clinic to assist Nurse Selma with patient intake. This incredible act of kindness and support was an amazing testament to how important the clinic is to the community.
Thanks to the dedication of our amazing staff and volunteers, we have been able to complete 860 consults at the Cedro Galán Clinic and 2,254 consults at the Villa Guadalupe Clinic since May!
Act of kindness #3- Special Holiday Event
Due to the ongoing political crisis in Nicaragua, MPI had to pause the majority of our community programs this year, including our after school kids Camp JAM program in Cedro Galán. Knowing that we hadn’t been able to run our normal activities, an amazing group of high-school students from the nearby American Nicaragua School (ANS) volunteered to hold a holiday event for kids in the community.
Nearly 40 children participated in the event, where they got to decorate coloring books, play games, win prizes, and even do a piñata! The volunteers from ANS planned all of the activities and provided all of the supplies. After so many months without Camp JAM, the kids were thrilled to have a chance to be creative and play together again. We are so grateful for the incredible kindness of the students who made this event possible and for their continued support of MPI!
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Manna Project International is US registered 501(c)(3) organization with Tax I.D. number 36-4547264.
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