In the Indian culture, there is a celebratory tradition called Anna-Prashan (food feeding or initiating of food other than milk), which marks the first time that an infant eats cereal/semi-solid food. On Tuesday July 17, 2012, mothers and their six month old infants from the Basti (slum) New Jagdish Nagar gathered together to part take in this rite of passage. For families living in slum neighborhoods under poor conditions, there is very little education or awareness about the importance of nutrition and supplementary feeding after six months of age. This community event serves as an example of how education and tradition can come together to motivate appropriate nutrition behaviours. Sampoorn Mahila Samiti, is a networked federation of 16 groups formally linked with 28 other groups newer groups that are less formally linked. Sampoorn, with guidance and support from Urban Health Resource Center (UHRC) and in close partnership with basti-level women’s groups, organize such “Annaprashan” events periodically in different clusters of Baanganga area in order to utilise this traditional ceremony into an educational and behavior promotion event for the young children of that cluster of bastis.
The topics discussed during the event is focused on weaning practices and how to properly feed their children, what kinds of foods are vital when weaning, hygiene, sanitation, proper hand washing, and general suggestions for maternal health.
With their children at hand, mothers were seated in a circle with a bowl of kheer (boiled rice, milk & sugar) in the center ready to feed their children solid food for the first time. Before the children started eating their delicious kheer, Shabnam Verma a UHRC staff member, discussed the importance of proper nutrition practices that were imperative for these mothers to take into consideration. She was actively engaging with these mothers by showing them pictures, asking questions, and making sure they were included in the dialogue. All of the mothers were sitting eagerly to learn the proper ways to take care of their children. This sparked interest in the eyes of these women because it brought clarity to their traditional somewhat unclear ideas about infant feeding.
Similarly, this initiative has the capacity to help many women in need that are not able to obtain the proper knowledge otherwise. In particular, there was one mother who was able to gain information to potentially save her child’s life. She was new immigrant to the Basti New Jagdish Nagar and was unfamiliar with what was going on. Her one year old child was severely malnourished and was in dire need of care. With great concern and care, all of the other mothers turned to her and gave her advice on how to help bring her child back to normalcy. The gathered women and UHRC staff members spoke to her about the proper infant feeding practices as well as providing her with helpful information for her child’s immunizations. She didn’t have the necessary information to keep her child in a healthy state and this event helped create an internal awareness for herself as well as for her infant. One of the mothers offered to help her by making frequent visits and UHRC has made sure to have an eye out for her. She was open to learn about her child’s condition and with the new learned information and guidance she will now be able to help her child.
This cultural event was a successful combination of traditional forethought and educational guidance. The messages given to these women reinforce healthy behaviors, in turn, leading to better health outcomes for mothers and their children. These children were not only given real food for the first time, but they were given the knowledge that will support a lifetime of healthy upbringing.
Namaste from India,
Farah
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| Me in pink playing with a very cute Indian baby! |
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