INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE, INC.: New Mother in Venezuela Receives Pre-and-Post-Natal Support

Michel became a mom in June 2021, when baby Nathan was born; she’s part of the Wayuu community. She lives with her dad, brother and another child that a friend asked her to care for two years ago. She’s a medical laboratory technician and holds a B.A. in Administration. Although she currently works as a Procurement Analyst, she doesn’t make enough to pay for basic needs. Michel has participated in different IRC-supported programs in the community center that is located a couple blocks away from her house. She first visited to get attention after experiencing pain while breast feeding, that’s how she joined the breast-feeding orientation program, in which she has now started to participate to share with other moms-to-be her experience. Additionally, she has joined the Wapushii program after Nathan was born, where she learns how to promote his development during the Early Childhood stage; she also has accessed the prenatal and pediatric health services. According to her, the vitamins she needed while being pregnant could cost up to US $25 for a one-month treatment, which would take around three months of salary. She says that getting access to the breast-feeding program has been really useful, since her mom died last year and she did not have anyone that could teach her about this.