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BIG-HEARTED friends determined to help a volunteer assisting desperate mothers surviving in a refugee camp rallied to the cause and started collecting clothes by the box load.
Their tremendous efforts and the community support shown in Bahrain to the cause has led to a dozen containers with aid being collected and transported to the women who fled from war-torn Syria.
Expat midwife Vicky Honar has recently returned from a refugee camp which has spread on the grounds of the EKO petrol station near Idomeni, northern Greece, and witnessed first-hand the plight of the inhabitants and heard stories of horror and heartache. She had reached out to people back home in Bahrain with an SOS for suitable summer clothing.
“The response was amazing,” Vicky said as she prepares for another journey to work with Nurture Project International (NPI) during Ramadan. “I was not surprised that so many women responded so quickly and enthusiastically as I already know most of them very well, and that they are kind-hearted, warm and generous people both with their resources and their time.
“What did amaze me were the very generous donations of money from some people – there was one cash donation of BD1,500, for example, which enabled the group to buy a great selection of clothing for the women.
“The efforts of the group were just superb, they travelled around Bahrain checking out clothing stores in malls and souks to find the most suitable clothes and the best bargains.
“Every day in the camp the volunteers would be asked by the women about clothing. They had left home with just a few clothes, so everything was getting very worn out and stained.
“We struggled to find suitable clothing for Muslim women in either the camp warehouse, or even in local shops. Consequently, I decided to put out a call to all my friends and acquaintances in Bahrain to see if they could help.
“I believe that these clothes will make a huge difference to the women,” she added. “At present you can see them hand-washing their clothes every day in small plastic basins and hanging them up to dry just to have clean clothes as often as possible - this will mean less work for them and more time to spend with their babies and children.
“It will also give the women a huge boost to their morale, knowing that women in Bahrain have been thinking about them and wanting to help them, knowing that they haven’t been forgotten now that they are trapped in Greece and can no longer travel into northern Europe as they had hoped.
“I am particularly thinking of one new mother who had left her husband in Syria when she was pregnant as it was just too dangerous for her to stay and travelled towards Europe with her widowed mother and younger siblings to give birth by Cesarean section in a Greek hospital.
“When she came back to the camp she wore the same stained clothes - due to leaking milk - for several days until we bought her some new ones from town as she didn’t have anything-else to wear. New clothes will certainly help to put a smile on her face, as well as on the faces of all the other women.”
Among those who responded to Vicky’s appeal were Anisa Asad, Olga Garland and Noora Feleyfel, whose two-year-old son, Faisal Al Shaikh, even helped with the packing of the boxes. They arrived at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club last week on the day the DHL Express team came to collect and deliver the packages of aid, as part of the company’s impressive community service endeavours.
Anisa, a mother-of-four of Bahrani-Irish descent, who lives with her family in Manama is a doula and child development specialist, volunteered to be lead coordinator for the collection of clothes, sorting and packing them for shipping. She also coordinated the collection of funds and the purchase of new clothes items that were needed.
Susan Sevaried, Amel Al Moayed, Noora, Jasmin Smith,Victoria Labdon and Sara Hasan all volunteered their time to collect and sort the clothes. Anisa, Amel, Noora and Olga also collected donations and others stepped forward too.
Anisa said: “I know Vicky through our work with birth, baby care and breastfeeding. When I saw her call for volunteers to coordinate the collection of clothing specifically for Muslim women, pregnant and nursing women, I felt compelled to help.
“I think it’s wonderful that a charity has made it its mission to support positive infant feeding and mothers of young children. It makes me feel positive to know exactly who and how our efforts will be of benefit to.
“We had many bags of donated clothes to sort through and pack. The response was very positive. We were also able to purchase many new specific items of clothing that were requested like the traditional overcoat that Syrian and Iraqi women wear, plus maternity and nursing clothes.”
Noora added: “It’s our social and moral responsibility to help our brothers and sisters around the world. You can’t just sit back and be detached from the horrible disaster that has happened to the Syrian people.
“I believe many people want to help but are usually wary of scams and the money going into the wrong hands when it comes to war-torn countries.
“I know Vicky personally and trust her and know firsthand about the good work she has been doing with NPI. As soon as she told me she was there I was very keen to help in any way I could and my friends and family were also keen to help.
I hope whatever they receive from us will make their lives a little more bearable but most importantly to let the women know that the world has not forgotten about them.”
Mother-of-two Vicky, lives in Saar with her husband, Mehdi, chairman of the rugby club. She is well-known in Bahrain for organising free ‘breastfeeding cafes’ where women can come with their babies to meet up with other breastfeeding mothers and share experiences and support.
As an IBCLC lactation consultant she was ideally qualified to help NPI provide support for pregnant and breastfeeding women and the continuous flow of women coming to the charity’s tent looking for help.
“It was quite an experience working every day with the women who are living there, many of whom have been subjected to terrible violence during the civil war in Syria, giving birth in understaffed and under-resourced hospitals while bombs were falling all around, or who have had to flee with their families as Daesh invaded their home towns, leaving all their possessions behind - and in many cases their husbands and brothers who are fighting in the conflicts,” Vicky explained.
“Despite all this I found the women to be strong, resilient and courageous and determined to survive and make a new life for themselves and their children.
“They are all very disappointed that the borders have closed and that they have been unable to continue into northern Europe - where in many cases their husbands have gone before, and they will now have to wait for who knows how long in Greece until they are settled more permanently in one of the countries of the European Union - I hope.”
Vicky was able to raise $5,000 for the project and would like to thank everyone who helped her. “NPI has two large tents: one is the ‘hammam’ tent where the mothers can bring their babies for a bath usually every two days as there are so many of them! Shampoo, soap and towels are provided, and a change of clean clothes if necessary, as well as disposable nappies, cream and baby wipes.
“The other tent is the ‘breastfeeding tent’ where the women come to get their babies weighed, talk to the volunteers about breastfeeding and receive extra rations in the form of special nutritional bars, bananas, nuts and dried fruits.
“I also started making lactation cookies while I was at EKO which became very popular with the breastfeeding mothers who really felt they gave their supply a boost.
“Word quickly spread about the ‘magic milk cookies’ and I started having to make double amounts every evening after I finished at the camp!
“Before I left I arranged for a local Greek baker to continue making the cookies and left money to pay for a full month, which I will renew as necessary.
“We also talked to the mothers about giving appropriate complementary food to their babies after six months, not easy in the camp as the food provided was not very good, and we were also able to provide a limited supply of baby food in jars.
“The babies also enjoyed the bananas - NPI received two free boxes every day and they soon disappeared.
“Working in the ‘breastfeeding’ tent was immensely satisfying. With more than 25 years’ experience as a midwife, mainly in the UAE where I worked with Arabic-speaking women of all nationalities, I learned to speak Arabic quite well, certainly enough to communicate with the women about pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.
“In EKO it was almost like recreating that experience, talking to all the women in Arabic every day about their lives and their concerns as well as the challenges of making sure their babies were getting the right nutrition.
“There were also many pregnant women on the camp, several having their first babies.
“Can you imagine coming home from hospital after the birth of your baby to a tent at a roadside which is freezing cold at night, very hot and stuffy in the daytime and the toilet facilities - basic chemical toilets - are a 10 to 15 minute walk away?
“And, think what that’s like after a Cesarean section? Sleeping on a thin mat on the ground and having to look after your baby in the same circumstances?
“NPI has been supporting these new mothers as well as they can but it’s certainly not an ideal situation.
“I have recently heard that several new families have moved to the camp from Idomeni - at the border with Macedonia where the refugees were recently bombarded with tear gas by border police - so there will be even more of a role for NPI.”
Vicky is now planning to return for the second two weeks in Ramadan ‘to continue doing whatever I can to support these brave mothers and their babies’.
At least some of the mothers will have fresh clothing thanks to the kindness of people who rallied to Vicky’s call.
If GulfWeekly readers would like more information or to support Vicky WhatsApp her on 39434273. For more details about NPI check out https://nurtureprojectinternational.org/donations/vickys-call-to-help-mothers-and-babies/
