It's Giving Tuesday! I have something to give to: mamas in Papua New Guinea who don't have access to good pregnancy nutrition and literature.
My in laws are missionaries there, and they've seen first hand that the lack of education and bad diet causes a lot of birth defects and premature births. For instance, mothers don't really know that smoking is bad for babies. They also chew a nut called buai that is bad for them but they won't stop due to addiction and its alleged morning sickness curing abilities. Likewise their diets lack a lot of essential things that babies need, and since they're mostly a sustenance economy, that means if they don't grow it, they don't eat it. Thos factors combined with a lack of solid healthcare in PNG means that mothers are often left to deal with the pain and difficulty of defects and death.
So what's the thing you're giving to? I'm working with some folks to setup a non-profit here in the U.S. to work with doctors and nationals in PNG to develop nutrition and education programs for mamas in PNG.
Right now their diets don't have much folate or iron in them. After researching what the best way to help with that would be by looking at what grows in PNG, what has the nutrients needed, and so on, we decided our first pilot program is going to supplement their diets with peanuts, which are high in folate (folic acid), iron, and protein. Another bonus: they're a cash crop over there rather than something they grow for sustenance, so not only will we be helping the mamas, but we'll be putting money in the PNG economy at fair trade prices.
We'll be giving them a bucket of peanuts that should last a month if they eat a cup a day (the recommended amount based on nutritional intake). Here's a photo of the buckets: http://imgur.com/kYMtXWh
We'll be putting a label on the outside with info prepared by an American OBGYN translated into Tok Pisin for them. It'll break down basic stuff like what not to eat, don't smoke, etc. along with some information about general care and delivery. They'll take it back to their village for the month, eat the nuts, bring the bucket back to be refilled at a clinic and receive some basic checkups/advice when they do.
So what do we need right now? $600 to purchase the kit for the peanut sheller and ship it to PNG. We're building a Universal Nut Sheller system, based on a design created by another NGO to specifically enable people in developing countries to shell nuts of all sorts (including peanuts). Right now we're set to start our first trial set of mamas in January, so we need to get the kit over there and constructed ASAP.
If you'd like to support that, just PayPal any amount to jeremymcanally@gmail.com. Indicate in the notes if you'd like to be kept up to date on what we're doing and I'll put you on our mailing list.