Empowering Women in Kalimantan to Prevent Stunting

Dear friends,

Thank you for your continuous support to those affected by the pandemic in our communities. COVID cases have thankfully reduced in number and we hope this will mean that breadwinners can slowly start earning an income again. However, the elderly remain fragile and vulnerable during the pandemic. We continue to monitor and support those living in Cipanas, West Java, who live in very poor conditions, some of whom are very weak and cannot work, others depend on the charity of others and some still have to work even though they are way past retirement age and end up earning very little.

Take for example one of our beneficiaries who is 70 years old and lives alone in the village of Ciwalen. She needs support on a daily basis from her neighbors because she has no income. All of her 3 children are married but live in another city. None of them have stable jobs and when they are out of work, they go back and stay with her to save rent money. 

A many number of elderly also have the added responsibility of caring for their grandchildren while their own children work in another city. One example is an elderly who still has to take care of her four grandchildren. Her own children only occasionally send her money. In order to keep food on the table, this elderly works as a traditional masseuse in her village though her income remains very low.    

With your help, we support these elderly by ensuring they have sufficient food to eat, so over these past few months, basic food packages consisting of rice, protein and vegetables were distributed to an average of 50 elderly in the area. We also helped them to receive their vaccination against Covid. YUM worked with the Community Health Center and a medical team administered the vaccines, taking place in our community centre.

If you wish to help the elderly in our community, #GivingTuesday is coming up soon. November 30th will be a global day of giving and a great way to start getting into the ‘giving back holiday’ spirit! If you’d like to participate and join millions of global givers, you may donate at the link at the bottom of this email.

Thank you again for your amazing contribution!

Dear friends,

Last month, Indonesia recorded its biggest daily increase in coronavirus infections with over 54,000 cases on July 14th (the highest in the world on that day). The government has mandated strict public restrictions especially for the regions most affected by the increase in cases. Though these restrictions make it more difficult for our staff to work on the ground, we continue our interventions, focusing on stunting prevention and ensuring pregnant mothers deliver healthy babies.

This time our report comes from Central Kalimantan. The YUM team is working with 37 women volunteer health workers in Bukit Batu district. These women volunteers are the frontline workers who follow the progress of the pregnant women and babies in the area. Our first priority was to build the knowledge and capacity around stunting and stunting prevention. Several workshops were organised, focusing on two topics: 1) stunting and its prevention, and 2) nutrition for pregnant women. 

The workshop used various tools such as presentations, videos, and flip charts. At the end of the workshop, 95% of the participants were able to explain what stunting is, and 88% understood the impact of stunting. With the knowledge they received in the workshop, these women were now able to provide the necessary information to the pregnant women living in the sub-district.

The stunting prevention program in Kalimantan works in 6 villages in Bukit Batu. A total of 105 pregnant women are enrolled in this program. Because of the pandemic, the health check-ups of pregnant women, babies and toddlers that are conducted in a monthly event called Integrated Health Post (Posyandu) have been cancelled. Due to this, the volunteer health workers and YUM staff have to visit each pregnant mother at their homes. During the visit, information is provided about stunting, its prevention, and the importance of breastfeeding for the healthy growth and development of their baby. 

Besides this information, the pregnant mother is also asked to confirm her participation in the intervention by signing an agreement, in which she agrees to get checked at the clinic at least 4 times during her pregnancy, fill in her health card during each check up and agree to consume the healthy and varied food packages that are provided by YUM every month. After discussions with the pregnant women, we discovered that each one has different needs in terms of nutrition: some have difficulty in obtaining milk, while others have difficulty in obtaining vegetables or fruits. So, instead of assuming what every pregnant mother needs, each woman gets to choose from three different kinds of packages every month: fruits, vegetables & groceries, and milk. This way, each of them can get the nutrition they need most but don’t have access to.

As you can read, stunting prevention requires working together with various stakeholders and an understanding of various issues such as nutrition and sanitation and of course, an awareness of stunting itself. Thank you so much for your amazing support to this project so that we can help ensure babies are born healthy!

In other news: YUM’s 2020 Annual Report has been published! Find out more about all our activities by going to YUM 2020 Annual Report

Also, this year YUM is celebrating its 45th anniversary. Mrs. Ismana Haryono, a member of our Board of Supervisors, has been with us for more than 40 years. She shares her memories about the beginnings of YUM and her wish for YUM’s future. Please take a few minutes to watch the video at Reminiscing YUM's Beginnings: How it all started and the challenges faced

Last but not least, out of 400+ entries, YUM has been selected as a Finalist for the 2021 GlobalGiving Photo Contest!! Voting starts TODAY, Monday, August 16th, 2021 until Friday, August 20th. Please go and vote for our photo so we can get a chance to win up to $1,000 in support of our COVID-19 relief program. You can see our photo here: https://www.globalgiving.org/poll/vote/?pollOptionId=1534