Dedicated to helping new moms and their babies

Members of the East London community have opened their hearts to actively participate in lessening the impact of violence against women and children.

While today marks the launch of the international 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children, some work is being done to alleviate the impact of gender- based violence all year round.

The annual campaign, which runs until December 10, is aimed at generating increased awareness about violence perpetuated against women and children, how it manifests itself within a society and the negative impact on these vulnerable groups.

This week, the Daily Dispatch caught up with the Cambridge Stork Support Group, a volunteers’ organisation dedicated to collecting and delivering clothes to new mothers at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane.

Saying they were most often confronted with cases of mothers preparing to take their babies home with nothing more than a nappy , co-ordinators Lorraine and James Rusch told of their efforts to collect baby clothes, toys and nappies, which they delivered to the hospital twice a month.

“This started during a visit to the ward (CMH) on a winter day in 2006 and we found mothers ready to go home with no warm clothes for their babies,” said Lorraine.

Subsequent to that she began a campaign to collect clothes, bringing on board pupils, women in retirement homes, women’s organisations and individuals, who knit and crochet vests, jerseys, hats and booties, and blankets for the babies.

“We have seen a mother wrap a newborn in her jersey, with only a disposable nappy on, and prepare to take him home. That is the reality that exists,” James said.

The couple said most of the new mothers, some of them 12 years old, had been victims of sexual abuse. “They live in small shacks with older brothers, uncles, fathers and step-fathers, and are too intimidated to report the crimes,” Lorraine explained.

Saying they delivered 130 packs every time they went, the couple showed a room full of the supplies they had received – from Christmas-themed hats and booties, jerseys and bibs, to teddy bears and blankets.

“Incest and rape are a big problem in the province, and our communities are unable to access their rights in order to prevent these,” Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre executive director Dr Lesley Ann Foster said yesterday. She said violence had become endemic in all societies and that a united effort was required to fight and stop it.

“The sad thing is that we have constructed a hierarchy of violence, where some forms are given more attention than others,” she said. “A three-year-old asked to touch a man’s genitals might not be given the treatment given to a rape victim, yet the impact is the same.”

(This story is courtesy of The Dispatch. Used with permission.)