Helping moms

It was while on the maternity ward at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope in 2015, that Edmund made the decision that this was her calling.

And after giving birth to her second daughter, Arlene-May Chan Wai Hong, the Facebook page, Trinimomcorner, was born. The page is solely dedicated to providing valuable information on pregnancy and motherhood.

To date, it has 883 Facebook “Likes’. Edmund tells Sunday Newsday the initiative has evolved into a charitable organisation, with over 25 families receiving assistance since its inception in April last year.

“Trinimomcorner started as a page that I made to provide information. I started because a lot of people don’t know a lot of things. They don’t know about breast feeding, they don’t know about the first days (of motherhood), they don’t know about parenting and they have a lot of questions and they don’t have an informed circle like I do to help them. I started really to educate about car safety and all these things, and it kind of morphed into a charity organisation. I talk to them (mothers) and do perspective shifting. I still try to do articles but it’s more like a community help thing,” she explains.

The former El Dorado Senior Comprehensive student says, “I’ve always wanted to do something with moms. When I made Arlene-May, next to me in the hospital there was a mother who had just had her baby and she had nothing. She didn’t know she was pregnant (until late), how far along she was, she didn’t know anything and they kept the baby from her because she did not even get HIV tested. She did not even have clothes to change.

From that experience, the mothers in the room who barely had - and who had - gave her (items) for her child, and that kind of showed me that we need that kind of community effort.

“We need to stop saying ‘seven children, look how she make all them children’ and understand (maybe) she was raped, she wasn’t educated. And that was my catalyst to say I need to do something about what I am seeing.

Last year we did lectures for breastfeeding week. We teamed up with (chutney star) Omardath Maharaj and his wife and we did talks in St Helena about breastfeeding, and sustainability in breastfeeding. Right now I’m training with the Trinidad and Tobago Breastfeeding Association as a counsellor.” And the initiative went a few steps further. “We do activities like raising funds for food and clothing and baby essentials; collect any used items, clean them, store them and hand them out to people who are in need. Last year also we took a family on over the August vacation and provided them with all their books, shoes and uniforms (for their children) - everything they need to go back to school.” Edmund says generally the response from the public has been positive, with the support of family, friends and benevolent individuals.

She notes though, that some people have been sceptical of the efforts, offering instead to donate condoms.

She questions this rigid stance, arguing: “People need to get help to get back on the right track or find the right track, because some of them don’t know it. But other than that we have amazing people who donate generously to the cause, either monetarily or to come and drop food, or this and that.” Edmund, however, is not swayed by her detractors who think she’s just giving handouts, as she believes the charitable arm of Trinimomcorner empowers individuals.

“We’ve been from Barrackpore to Valencia helping people.

You would not believe that the same persons we’ve helped turn around and help others. One of the first families we helped, the husband lost his job and the wife had four kids already and they were on the fifth.

“He used to be a truck driver but lost his job and she had this baby on the way and things started to fall apart. But she’s resourceful, she began to sew and she made cakes for a number of our birthday parties. She came and gave back and now they’re on their feet. It’s not about a hand-out, it’s more a hand up.” Edmund plans to have Trinimomcorner registered as a non-governmental organisation in the near future, but says there are certain steps that must be taken to prove what they are do doing.

“Some people say you’re doing this just for (publicity on) Facebook but you kind of have to do that,” she explains.

She is hoping in five years to set-up a subsidised daycare to assist working mothers whose incomes are small, but need that service because they have no one to supervise their children.