Together for Health at Castelu

Personal hygiene, childcare and breast-feeding classes for girls and the young mothers in Castelu.

During June-August 2020, 89 girls and young mothers from Castelu, Constanta County, took part in the hygiene, childcare and breast-feeding classes, part of the ‘Together for Health at Castelu’ project. The project was implemented by Reality Check and funded through the “În stare de bine” program.

In the poor community of Castelu, the Turkish-Roma girls and adult women don’t have an easy life. Their life conditions are harsh, they live in overcrowded homes and have no running water. Most of the girls abandon school at an early age to get married and they become moms during their teen times. They lack the proper knowledge and resources that would help them care for their bodies and their babies; they are vulnerable in front of serious diseases and their quality life is strongly affected.

We invited in this project an antenatal education specialist who brought the necessary info to the place where it was mostly needed. We also offered personal hygiene and basic personal care products to all women in the community. We successfully contributed to the improvement of their personal hygiene and helped them accumulate the knowledge and develop the abilities to properly care and breast-feed their babies. All the participants have shown a genuine interest and curiosity in these classes and the information they received was presented in a manner to suit everyone’s level of understanding. The fact that the girls do not discuss this kind of issues in their families made these classes even more useful. 

The results of this two months project:

  • 78 girls and women who participated in the personal hygiene class learned how to keep their bodies clean and healthy and what their bodies go through during puberty and birth.
  • 18 new or future moms participated in the baby care class and learned which are the stages of raising and properly caring for a baby in hers first year of life, in order for her to develop healthily.
  • 5 young moms benefited from a counseling session in breast-feeding.

All classes were conducted by an antenatal specialist from SAMAS Foundation (SĂnătate MAme și Sugari). At the end of each class, all the participants received a snack and diplomas and also a package of basic personal hygiene products for themselves and for their babies.

We implemented this project in partnership with The City Hall of Castelu and with the help of a group of dedicated volunteers. 

Project photo album: https://www.facebook.com/pg/RealityCheckRo/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1217302078627919

‘’Together for Health at Castelu’’ is run by Reality Check and funded through the ’’În stare de bine” program, supported by Kaufland Romania and implemented by  Fundația pentru Dezvoltarea Societății Civile.

#realitycheckro #impreunapentrusanatatelacastelu #instaredebine #implicareafacediferenta #kaufland #fdsc

#ÎNSTAREDEBINE is a funding program that offers nonrefundable grants in total value of 1 million euros to the Romanian NGO’s during the year of 2019. The objective of the program is to increase the quality of life for the inhabitants in the rural and urban communities by supporting the initiatives that have a positive impact on culture, sports or healthy life and which is addressed mainly to the vulnerable community groups. www.instaredebine.ro

The content of this material does not necessarily mean the official stand of the „În stare de bine” program.