Supporter: Farida A Erikawati

Her name is Marhamah, but people call her May. She is not yet 32 years old and already has three children. Her youngest child is seven-month-old girl who is breastfeeding. When I asked why she is still giving breastmilk to her, she answered that breastmilk is the best food for the baby, and says that she will continue to breastfeed until her baby daughter is at least two years old.

May works as a house servant and takes care of her three children. Her husband works as a driver — he only comes home once a week, so she's the one who arranges for all the needs of the family.

May with her seven-month-old daughter. Photo: Farida Ayu Erikawati/Mercy Corps

On November 12, May came to her local community health post to participate in the selection to be a breastfeeding motivator for Mercy Corps' Healthy Start Program. At that time, May felt uncertain, because she didn't finish elementary school.

“Can I join this motivator selection if I am not an elementary graduate?” she asked. She was worried that she will be mocked, because her level of schooling her job as a house servant. But after we explained that Healthy Start's peer support groups aimed to help mothers continue breastfeeding their babies, May decided to join the selection process. After all, she is a breastfeeding mother herself.

So May went through Mercy Corps' four-day breastfeeding motivator training alongside eleven friends. The training topics of training included pregnancy, birth, early breastfeeding and infancy after six months old. Three days after training was completed, she knew that her boss’s sister was delivering her baby in a private hospital at east Jakarta, and she wanted to see her. When May went to the hospital, she brought the Mercy Corps training kit — a module of ten topics on breastfeeding.

She also wore her badge that identified her as a breastfeeding motivator — one that reads “"Breastfeeding? Ask me!"

With full confidence, May entered the operating room. She met the doctors and nurse. One of the doctors asked her, “Who are you? Where do you come from? What are you doing here?”

May (middle of bottom row) during her breastfeeding training in early November. Photo: Farida Ayu Erikawati/Mercy Corps

She replied, “My name is May. I got trained as breastfeeding motivator by Mercy Corps, and I am the patient's relative. I want to help her to do an early initiation of breastfeeding.”

The doctor was pretty surprised, and asked about the badge she was wearing — “What is early initiation of breastfeeding?”

May explained, “Early initiation is the process where the baby be put on the mother’s chest immediately after he is born, and crawls to find the mother’s breasts on his own. Both mother and baby benefit from this practice. The baby will get colostrum for antibodies, and the mother won’t have difficulties in breastfeeding."

The doctor let May stay in the operating room.

At first, the boss’s sister refused to do early initiation. But after being given counseling on the advantages on early initiation, she agreed to do it. The doctor put the baby on the mother's chest — she was very happy to see the process, and surprised that the baby crawled all the way up to her breast.

After her intervention on early initiation, May hopes the mother can continue to do exclusive breastfeeding for six months and maintain it until the baby is two years old. Early initiation is the key to successful breastfeeding — and better health for both mother and child.

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It was Sunday, September 27, 2009 and I was rather sad. That morning, my family and I intended to visit some of our extended family in another city, but our car stalled. I was disappointed, because I kept imagining that they wouldn't be able to meet the newest member of our family, my 40-day-old baby girl. “But it’s fine,“ I said. “We'll just go another time."

The weather was very hot that day. After my morning of disappointment, I remembered looking at the clock and seeing the time was 11:30 AM — almost time for Muslim prayer. But suddenly, many scattered crowds of people rain through our neighborhood while shouting “Fire...fire!”

This is how Penjaringan, an impoverished neighborhood in north Jakarta, looked two days after a fire gutted the area. Photo: Yayat Hidayat/Mercy Corps

I know that the adjacent neighborhood of Penjaringan is indeed located in an area of extreme fire danger. That neighborhood is very densely populated and poorly arranged, with mostly semi-permanent houses and bad drainage in times of flooding. Penjaringan's chaos had increasingly crept into my own neighborhood.

And the chaos grew that late September Sunday. ”Fire...fire!” The sounds were increasingly loud and made everyone panic. Many people tried to rescue their things, but most could only cry over what they'd lost. I began to feel the air get increasingly hotter.

My 40-day-old daughter, who was not usually fussy, was obviously feeling that something was happening. The air around us kept getting hotter. Everyone shouted, running while crying and looking for their children and their families. That's when I got involved, wanting to help however I could.

I was confused as where to run first. My thoughts went back to the past about a similar incident that happened a year ago. Yes, not much time had passed since the last time this happened.

I was thankful that my family and house were safe, but soon found that dozens of other houses were burned. Out of six breastfeeding motivators in the area, mine was the only house left standing. I imagined all of my friends in the area who had new babies, all the breastfeeding mothers and how they would be affected by a disaster like this.

I was separated from my baby girl for more than three hours. But, after the shock and stress of that day wore off, my worry went away and my enthusiasm returned. Although the situation in these neighborhoods is uncertain after the fire, I will continue to try and motivate my friends and local mothers to provide their babies with early and exclusive breastfeeding.

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