This week, we’d like to help make life better for some mums and babies in east London living in extreme poverty.
The Magpie Project in Newham provides advice and support for mothers and children under 5 who are at risk of homelessness. The women they help are usually living in hostels or temporary B&B accommodation, some are squatting and others are completely homeless or on the verge of being made homeless for a variety of reasons, from asylum to domestic violence.
I spoke with Jane, who runs the project, and the stories she told me were heartbreaking…stories of mums trying to make 1 disposable nappy last for as many days as possible, of babies with nappy rash so severe that their bottoms are bleeding, of mums unable to afford the bus fare to even get to the Magpie Project for help.
The Magpie Project works with so many women and children that it was hard for Jane to nominate just 1 family for help. So this week, we would like to do something to help all of the mums and children they work with. With your help, we want to buy some of the essentials items they need, including:
Nappies: So these mothers can change their babies every time they need changing, and stop rinsing out disposable nappies.
Foot muffs and rain covers: When prams are donated to the Project, they are often missing these accessories. These mums walk everywhere, and spend very little time indoors , so their babies are getting cold and wet.
Basic strollers: If the Magpie Project could give lightweight strollers to the mums with toddlers, then those mums can return the larger buggies for new mums to use…as Jane so beautifully put it, it would ”give the mums with toddlers the pleasure of giving back to mums with younger babies, which they love.”
