by Becca Hoyle
There is no tool for development more powerful than the empowerment of women. – Kofi Annan
Comfort Babies currently supports 83 children and their mums/carers. Every one of these families has a story, each one powerful proof that a little really can change a life, a family and a whole community. Some of the mums were raped, many as teenagers. Some were abused, orphaned or abandoned. Some resorted to prostitution, others to begging. All found themselves completely devoid of hope.
From these broken and bruised young women, came 83 beautiful, sacred new lives. Some of them entered the world clinging to life by a thread. Some weighed heavy in the arms of a mum with nothing to offer but a malnourished breast. Many of them would not have survived their first day, week, month or year without the transformative power of the simple acts of kindness that drive forward the work of Comfort Babies. Money, yes, is part of the generosity that has been the catalyst for change, but there is so much more to it: the tireless work of the Rwandan team, responding at all hours of day or night to each family’s needs; the letters of friendship sent between sponsors and mums; the hugs exchanged when sponsors have visited; the video calls across continents that make the world seem wonderfully small after all.
One by one, the mums’ lives are being restored and re-defined as they are encouraged and equipped to grow into women with dignity, purpose, joy, courage and compassion. And as each one has begun to look up and see her own potential, she has also, instinctively and selflessly, reached out to others. When one teenage mum was pregnant, another set up a rota of mums to do home visits delivering fruit. When one mum wanted to get married, the others did a whip-round, collecting pennies that became a wedding. When one young mum lived in a dilapidated house in need of both repairs and cleaning, the others rallied round, babies on back, tackling it as a team project for a day. When one mum got into hairdressing college, other mums in Comfort House offered to provide childcare for her son.
I am delighted that one of our mums is now a university graduate, several have qualified from college as hairdressers and tailors, and some are finding their way as entrepreneurs. I am equally delighted that mums who were completely illiterate are now learning to read and write; I watched one take great pleasure in writing her own and her daughter’s name for the first time. I am delighted because these women who once believed the lie that they were worthless, are now holding their heads up high and their babies close, with a song in their hearts – a song richly layered with harmonies as they forge their way together in the Comfort Babies community.
