The four women, Arunaben, Bhartiben, Yoginiben, and Nanduben are a part the "Anganwadi" program run by a local Ahmedabad NGO called Manav Sadhna. Anganwadi is a community based program of providing Nutrition, Health and Health Awareness programs in slums. Some of Anganwadi's goals include improving the health of pregnant and feeding   mothers, promoting awareness on health, hygiene, and nutrition to pregnant and feeding mothers, and giving immunizations. (Source: Manav Sadhna)

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Everyday in the afternoon from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, these women visit the about 3-4 pregnant women in Wadaj and sit down with them to look at their latest check-up report, check their vitals, answer questions, and give advice about nutrition and ways to not have more kids.

A lot of pregnant women, especially of the lower socioeconomic class in India, often do taxing manual labor even at 8 months of their pregnancy to earn some money to support their already big family. Unfortunately, they are not even giving themselves enough nutrition, and are succumbing to society's superstitious beliefs of how some foods might actually be "evil". For example, a lot of them think eating bananas would make their baby's head stick to the walls of their uterus or that eating dates would lead to a miscarriage when in fact they are a great source of potassium and iron respectively. They are also not educated about how the sex of the baby is determined right at fertilization. For this reason, many women practice activities that may harm them in order to "make" their baby a boy.  In some cases, women fail to keep a track of their pregnancy term and accidentally deliver at home. This causes many complications in the mother's and the child's health going forward.

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Our four Wonder-women of Wadaj deserve great quality paramedical equipment and supplies that can ensure that their good work is continued so that the pregnant Women of Wadaj can be more aware and empowered. Please consider donating to this cause. 

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