We’re looking for a confident individual who is energised by meeting with people (individuals, groups and organisations), able to facilitate meetings and engagements, and skilled to assist the team with the continued development of the network strategy.
We’re looking for a vibrant, creative, hardworking and self-driven individual who will assist with managing the administrative duties related to our core project work.
The challenges faced by this community are a shared responsibility, and through collaboration, we can pave the way for a brighter, more inclusive future for maternal care.
After a year of careful planning, learning, listening and conversing, Embrace, the Movement for Mothers, has launched a series of short films in partnership with Makhulu Media that exposes the pervasiveness of obstetric violence in South Africa.
Coinciding with the internationally recognised 16 Days of Activism period, Embrace, a social movement for mothers, teamed up with filmmakers and impact agency Makhulu Media to expose the extent of obstetric violence in our country. Through research and interviews, Push Comes to Shove, shows that obstetric violence is a common yet preventable barrier to accessing quality and dignified healthcare.
Feminists have long been lobbying for obstetric violence to be recognised as a form of gender-based violence (GBV). We welcome the 2022 Presidential Summit on GBV and Femicide’s conclusion that obstetric violence is gender-based violence.
In the absence of a comprehensive plan that centres mothers as the ‘breastfeeders’, it is highly unlikely that South Africa will meet the WHO’s global target of 70% for exclusive breastfeeding by 2030. As a movement of mothers and mother-supporters, and working for mothers and their families, we are committed to the work of making these positive challenges a reality.
Embrace, the Movement for Mothers, notes with great concern reports of foreign nationals who are denied access to healthcare in South African facilities.
Studies have shown that organisational and managerial support for the implementation of mother-friendly workplace policies have a positive impact on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding among female employees, and contributes to improved job satisfaction, as well as better staff retention. At the same time, research shows that South African workplace remains largely unaccommodating to breastfeeding employees. As a result, lactating employees are forced to abandon breastfeeding when they return to work.
All mothers, irrespective of their socio-economic status, must have access to comprehensive breastfeeding support. This type of wrap-around support service must be robust enough to provide a sense of safety, belonging, empathy and cultural sensitivity that transcends the overly simplified tagline that “breast is best”.
In order to increase our chances of breastfeeding success, we need to give serious consideration to what it means to give mothers comprehensive breastfeeding support that provides them a sense of safety, acceptance, understanding and sensitivity, and that transcends the frequently espoused, overly simplified epithet “breast is best”.
This normalised state of violence against women and birthing people seeking healthcare has an enduring, negative impact on maternal health outcomes and early childhood development. The abusive treatment of women and girls in maternity services is a form of gender violence that reflects the broader societal devaluation of women and girls in South Africa and the normalisation of violence against them, particularly marginalised and impoverished women and girls.
I struggled with postnatal depression and I still struggle with the trauma I experienced. It haunts me. I felt like I was in a nightmare that just wouldn’t end, straight from a horror movie. I kept asking myself if this was a dream, this couldn’t possibly have happened to me.
I have decided to share my story and join the movement of advocacy for obstetric violence and birth trauma because I need to know that there is action and advocacy for a better experience the next time around. For my next baby and for other women from all walks of life.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that is diagnosed during pregnancy. It happens when your body can’t make enough insulin, a hormone that lowers the level of glucose in the blood – which can cause health problems in mother and baby.
With election day less than a month away, we thought we would go over a few voting fundamentals. We’ve put together a quick guide for mothers and mother-supporters on how to make a well-informed voting decision. Here a few things to remember as we get ready to cast our votes on 1 November:
Embrace, the movement for mothers, seeks to employ an advocacy and communications strategist. This is a senior-level, full-time post. The successful candidate will join a small, dynamic team that serves as the engine of a national network-driven movement.
As mothers, we know better than most that our children are the future, and we appreciate the outpourings of gratitude for our role in shaping that future. But we also want you to know: gratitude alone is not enough – not while pregnant mothers go hungry; not while 1 in 3 mothers suffer from mental disorders during and after pregnancy; not while teenage girls cannot access basic reproductive healthcare services, and not while it is possible for a woman to be beaten while she is labouring.
Whilst we know that the effects of the pandemic were gendered and women have borne the brunt of the fall-out, the budget tabled yesterday has done little to ease the wounds women are currently feeling.
This is our 2021 pledge – to continue to fly the flag for empowered and prioritised motherhood. The burdens mothers hold can and must be alleviated. As a movement, we are focused on seeing this happen, not on our own, but together with individuals and organisations who see truly see mothers too. We hope you will continue to stand with us and work with us as we step into the New Year.
Did I mention the merry-go-round of fear in my head? How was I going to make money? What would happen to my child if I got sick? Before experts reassured us that children younger than ten were least likely get infected, there was the gigantic fear of my child getting sick. The more the lockdown was extended, the more I worried about how my child’s development was being affected by not being able to go to crèche. The longer lockdown lasted, a new fear appeared: the fear of losing a roof over our heads. All this responsibility is unbelievably hard for a single mom because you have to figure everything out alone. But I have to also appreciate how day after day, God sent unexpected angels to help (from a distance or electronically). I have experienced a lot of kindness from so called strangers during this challenging time.
As we listened to story after story, a maternal mantra of sorts emerged: mothers need support always, and perhaps now even more so. The question is – how do we get creative in supporting mothers during pregnancy, birth and post-partum without increasing their risk of contracting COVID? I think we’re going to have to get radical about creating a community for mothers – no mother left behind. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, but it starts with looking out for the mothers around us and asking them what they need. Lack of support for new mothers is not a corona-conundrum, but if it takes a global pandemic to get us seriously thinking up solutions, then perhaps not all has been lost to 2020 after all.
What does this mean for moms? In a sense, the work-life divide has always been a constructed one. No-one is ever just one thing at once. For so long, people – especially mothers – have had to pretend away at least 60% of whom we are for the sake of our professions and our job security. The gift of COVID-19 is that it has stripped away the props we rely on in this pretense: the office, the meetings, the work trips. Without these, we can no longer pretend away crucial parts of our identities.
So, in the run up to #MandelaDay, we are using this platform and our voices as the women, mothers, daughters, sisters of victims and survivors of #genderbasedviolence to call for collective action against such violence. #GBV is a social problem and it will never stop until there are social solutions. So we’re going to be sharing ways in which you can help spot and stop GBV in your own community and resources with which which you can support survivors of GBV.
But I hope you, fellow mother, know that you are a part of an incredible community and we see you – ALL of you – and all your struggles and your triumphs and the roaring strength and beauty of what you are achieving each day, against all odds.
Motherhood is everything. To quote Tess Guinery, I am totally ‘into it’ and so ‘over it’, so alive and so tired, so hopeful and so unsure, so brave and so afraid, so confident and so crazy, so purposeful and so aimless, so intentional and so ‘go with the flow’.
Nevertheless, throughout my motherhood journey, I have learned that my daughter Oyisile Murhangeri (whose names loosely translate to victory and leader) moulded me into the person that I was destined to become. She has made me understand the true value of life and taught me how to persevere regardless of challenges, a trait that I could have possibly ignored if she was not here.
If there is one small mercy for mothers as a result of this pandemic, I pray that its’ a deep acknowledgement of the role that mothers and mothering plays in our society. The world hasn’t stopped in lock down. The economy isn’t ruined. It ticks over in the stabilising force of mothers showing up for their families in their homes – doing important, life-affirming work to steady little children who will grow up to do great things.
You are so special. It’s hard. It’s hard to spend hours in there and hours away from your home and your safe haven. It’s not in vain. You are doing an incredibly important job. You are mothering your baby. And it might not feel like it, but you know him or her better than anyone else on this planet.
Keep the faith, wrap yourself in love and the knowledge that you are not alone in your journey. There are lots of others out here praying alongside you. I wish you love, hope, encouragement and strength on your journey.
It’s a hard season, a feeling out of your depth season, a sleep deprived season, but it is also a miraculous season where you see yourself rise up in ways that you didn’t know you could, and you see your little person be amazing, even in the face of difficulty.
And remember, never ever lose hope and talk to that little person as if they can hear and understand you. Let them know how much you love them and how much you need them to fight for you.
If you happen to be one of those moms, I wish you courage, strength and patience. You are that baby’s rock, their place of safety and their first love. The road is slow but you will get there eventually. From one mom to another, keep it together and know that someone is rooting for you.
My Matteo was on earth for ten days. In that time I saw what can only be described as miracles happening because of how this tiny baby brought people together. Your baby will have a different journey, and you will learn things about yourself you never knew. Just know this: you are enough. And I am certain these gladiator babies choose their moms very specifically, no matter how long they are in the arena. I wish you hope and strength for your journey in the most sacred trust of all: motherhood.
Trust in your body, if it gave birth before the due date is because it was the best to do that, something went wrong and your baby is better out than inside your body.
At that point, your baby needs you, and you need to be there. You push all your emotions away, and move forward somehow so that you can be there. You feel numb and overwhelmed with caring for this tiny human. I also felt unsupported emotionally because nobody else I knew had a preemie and didn’t understand what I was going through, I would often get comments that they might have thought were supportive but I found them insensitive and hurtful.
My ‘words of wisdom’ would be to remain calm, as your baby can sense your emotions. Babies are tougher than we think and will surprise you over and over again.
Giving birth to a premature baby is the same as going on a roller coaster ride. It is an up and down ride, you will scream and cry out of fear and in the same breath scream and cry laughter.
There WILL be days with bad news, cry if you need to and then just know that tomorrow is another day and progress and good news will come. Preemies are the best fighters in the world!
I really enjoy spending time with kids. Now that I have my own kid, I sit and talk with them, share stories, and they tell me about what happened at school, it is fun, and when you are a mother you laugh all the time.
The time that I enjoy the most about being a mother is that I can ask my kid to do errands for me, stay with them, and have them communicate with other kids, so I really enjoy that.
What am I doing, is taking care of my family… while renting a chain, one of those saloons because I want to be an independent woman because I’m not after any sponsoring because here, we don’t have much finance supporting systems.
I would like to talk about children who have problems, who are called special needs babies. I would like to ask that we take care of these kids, and give them extra love.
I have a great relationship with my children, I am like a sister to them. I advise them, they listen to me, they are coping, others are working right now, one is about to complete school.
The kindest to me was my mother, you know my mother was the best even though she is no longer alive. By the time the father of my child left me he did not support the child, but my mother never deserted me she raised my child.
Well, it was something… quite out of the blue and you could have seen the joy in his face when we first went to see the baby and he couldn’t believe it himself and for me I just bonded with the child from the first minute I saw her and up to today she’s still my baby.
You know, I think what makes it easier is that every child is so different. So you love every child for a different reason and in a different way. Some you love because they look so damn cute and you can’t get your eyes off them…
So being a young mother hasn’t been very easy but with my mom’s support it has been the greatest journey ever. With that being said; it’s because my daughter lives with my mom and so I only see her on weekends, but every single day when I talk to her over the phone, she sends me Whatsapp’s of things that my daughter does
Having a baby at a very young age for me; it taught me to be responsible first of all because at the time I was in school, I was schooling. Having a child at home, I had to leave the child at home and then go to school.
Well, my journey began quite some time ago. I have been married, very happily, for the last, almost 18 years and to a great guy and an amazing husband and obviously, as our marriage progressed, we were keen to start a family…
Yes, mothers, we need to be vulnerable for us to be healed. The more you open up and you dig down to your problems you share with other people, it’s gone and all the weight goes away and you’ll be healed.
This is Progress. You know, for me to be a better mother I think I need to have time for myself – ‘me time’ because sometimes, we as mother’s, we are too busy with everything.
For yourself first… to care for other people you have to care for yourself first and you have to love yourself and then when you love yourself you will go out and give other people the love that you have and also you have to receive love from other people.
You know in life you need people to help you but the people, they will never know if you we struggle for something. If you have problems, you must communicate. Tell the people that are around you what you feel so that they can help you.
It’s a challenge sometimes and its fun sometimes because we play together, we sing, we dance together but then sometimes I feel that I need someone who is going to play a father part in his life and it’s a challenge to me because I have to play that role.
My daughter was born in 2014. It was really bad because when I got to the labour ward, it was hard – the nurses told me that there was something that didn’t go out in my womb so I have to go to the ICU for that.
I would say it’s so much challenging, it challenged me up to the point where I was mentally affected as well. It is so difficult because I have to become a psychiatric to my husband because he was brain damaged. I had to be a… psychologist to him and to my kids, I had to be a counsellor to my children..
Most of the people in our community, they say “girls who have a child in an early age they’re loose” like we don’t love ourselves, we love boys, that’s why we just throw ourselves at boys. Actually it’s not true because…
I think as mothers, we need to form support groups in our community whereby we can talk about our struggle of being a mother. Whether you’re a single mother or you have your partner like who is supporting you or your family because… why?
Okay, so… Women of Worth Circle – story telling circle has a very brilliant session basically got us women to actually talk about our motherhood journeys, the difficulties we’ve faced, basically how we bring that is not one of the last ones.
So for me the kindest person in my motherhood journey has been my husband. And I feel like he has been there since day one. He understands when I say “I need space; can you hold him for me?”
Okay… the kindest person in my motherhood journey I would say… most of the time it was the neighbours… outside our people from the community. I remember the other day because I got a…
Hello everyone, my name is Nomfundo Msomi and the advice I would like to give women and mothers in South Africa is that; we spend so much time regretting, crying, resenting the journey of being mothers due to our circumstances that we face but we forget that we are powerful beings…
Yes, it was 39 years ago and my mom was not married then and it was always known with the nurses at that time, they’re very strict with young girls who had kids when they were still single and when it was time for them to deliver the kids at the ward…
The reason why I chose her name is because I was happy to have her so that is why I said Sinovuyo because of the support of the family; my family was supportive, my sisters, my brothers and my mother were supporting me.
I have learned that to raise the child is not only for the mother – the father also needs a chance to raise the children because there was one instance, we had a quarrel with my husband and then my daughter wrote a letter that said “Mom can you please give me my father the last chance?”
The regret that I have… when it came to Cape Town. I finished my matric and then I came to Cape Town. I came here to study but I didn’t apply early, so I have to take a gap year and then during that gap year I met someone, and I fell pregnant.
Who has been the kindness to me as a mother, is my sister. She’s the most amazing sister ever that I have. She was helpful since, since I was in labour, I remember I went straight to the hospital and my sister came after, and she was the one that was rubbing my back through the pains…
For me it’s that like mothers can support each other, which means they can meet, like find that space of their own mothers and come together and talk about what each mother needs and what each mother – where she feels like she doesn’t get enough of how can we come together and support each other
The person who has been the kindest to me in my motherhood journey was my mother because when I was in labor, I couldn’t give birth, I was still in labor.
Motherhood… people talk about the love that you will feel for your child before you become a mother and you can cognitively listen to them and try to understand, but there really is an inability to approximate that until your child comes into your life and that is a huge thing that I’ve now realized after becoming a mother.
I think I wish that… before I became a mom, my fellow mothers and friends, who already had children, would have pulled me aside and given me permission to not enjoy every minute of the journey of motherhood.
I think that a lot of women that are not moms, tend to actually underestimate their own ability to step in to be there for moms, because you feel as though you are lacking the experience to be able to resonate with what they’re going through.
What would make it easier? Honestly, some more support groups. I don’t see – and I’m not one of those political people – but I don’t see the government giving any type of emotional support to mothers.
So I don’t know much about the story of my birth. I was abandoned at birth at a bus station in Lusaka… and then I was taken to the orphanage shortly after that.
My loneliest moment as a mother was the second night, after my son was born. My husband had stayed over in hospital the first night and so I hadn’t been alone – I was also hopped up on morphine.
One has been my very good friend … she’s a mother of a friend of my second born son and when I had Christopher, my last born, there’s a 14-year gap between him and the brother he follows, I was 45, it was a very difficult pregnancy and…
I’ve definitely learnt that I am a lot stronger than I think and that I am very resilient and mothers as a whole are very resilient. Both through my own journey being a mom, but also now as a mother looking at my mom’s mother and her journey.
Celebration isn’t frivolous – it’s powerful! Black Babywearing Week 2018 is underway and we’re celebrating what this means for black mothers in South Africa.
Whether you wrap, sling, buckle or tie your baby to your body – the revolution will be carried!
Society will not fix what it cannot acknowledge. There are many, many Shana’s in South Africa. We are fed a narrative that as long as we are delivered of a “healthy baby”, nothing else matters – our experiences don’t matter. And yet, we know they do. There is a spectrum of injustice and none of it is okay! The dents in our soul are real….
It is with the greatest joy that I write this first post from the newly rebranded and re-energised Embrace. You may have noticed our new logo creep up on our social media accounts, but today is the day we launch our new website with everything you need to know about who we are, what we believe, and what we do.
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