Make a difference this Mother's Day

Read on to find out how YOU can help this amazing cause (and give a special Mother's Day gift).

Bloggers often receive unexpected or interesting emails. Product review requests, comment alerts, forum discussion replies, and so on. This week one of those unexpected emails arrived in my inbox, from a name I didn't recognise. A person that, within minutes, I would come to admire. And I hoped I could use my blog as a way of helping the foundation she volunteers with, to keep doing this wonderful work.

Bec Nielsen spent three months last year in Uganda, volunteering with Child's i Foundation. I followed the links to find out about them - and I think you should too.

Bec says,

"When mothers in Uganda have to make that unthinkable decision to abandon their child, it is because they have no other option. Newborn and young babies are often found abandoned in taxi parks, hospitals, police stations and on the roadsides of Kampala.  These children are usually placed in institutional care i.e. an orphanage and will often live there until they are 18."

Child's i Foundation, run by an extraordinary woman, Lucy Buck, was set up to give these young, frightened and vulnerable mothers another choice. The Foundation consists of three services:

• Malaika Baby and Family Support Centre - a short-term care facility for babies (aged 0-2), ideally for a maximum of 6 months. During this time the family is encouraged to visit as often as possible and the aim is to reunite the baby with their family within this time frame. 
• Malaika Drop-In Centre - offers counselling and vocational training to women in the local community. Childcare is provided while mothers learn skills which will ultimately make them self-sufficient and able to support their family.
• Malaika Family Placement - the social work team works extremely hard to place each child back with their family, complete with assessments and home visits. If a family cannot be traced then a suitable adoptive family will be found locally in Uganda.

Please, watch at least one of these videos. I promise you will be moved and inspired...

So, how can you help?

Child's i Foundation ask for one of three things from you - your choice of either TIME (volunteering either from home or in Uganda), LOVE (helping them use social networking to spread the word - follow them on Twitter and Facebook) or MONEY (there are a range of ways you can donate).

Right now, Child's i are asking you to do something very special for Mother's Day. Choose from a range of gifts (things like clean drinking water for a week, a baby's first medical check, fruit and veg for a month, and so on) and they'll send a handwritten card to the person you purchased it on behalf of (your mum or someone else special in your life). Just head here to do that.

Easy. Brilliant. Amazing.

Back to volunteer Bec...

"Inspired, thankful and emotional were the feelings I expected to come away with at the end of my time in Kampala. But the one thing I took away most was unexpected. 

Hope. 

Every step of the way and everything that Child's i Foundation does and stands for is about hope. Looking into the eyes of these precious little babies you know that they are the lucky ones. They will have a family and most importantly they will have a future."

Let's work together to make a difference to children's lives.