Celebrating our first birthday with baby Fabio!

This month we’re celebrating our first birthday! And what a year it’s been – thanks to your custom we’re already donating our profits to support six children and two nursery schools.

To celebrate we’re delighted to introduce you to this cheeky little chap! Baby Fabio, one year old and from Brazil, is the youngest in his SOS family – his SOS mother says he loves the attention!

Despite all we know and love about Brazil there is great inequality and for many, life is extremely insecure and unsafe. Both Fabio’s parents died, but now that he’s with his SOS family he has a new start in life.

We’re donating 100% of our profit to help orphaned children across Africa and in India and Brazil.  Our profit supports them to live in new family homes in children’s villages run by our partner charity SOS Children.  There they grow up safely, loved by their SOS mother, brothers and sisters, and go to school. We’re also using our profits to support 2 village nursery schools, in Zambia and Malawi.

Marking our first year, Fabio’s gorgeous smile is extra special and we love to think how we’re growing up alongside him and all the children we support.  Thanks to all our customers and supporters for making our first year so special, even more so for the children whose lives you’ve changed. For them and us, let’s see what fun toddlerhood brings!

Buy beautiful baby clothes at www.frombabieswithlove.org: Style with substance and smiles all round!

Our first baby is all grown up!

It’s a year since we first introduced you to Ousmane, the first baby we’ve used our profits to support. We recently received gorgeous pictures from his SOS Children’s village.

Ousmane attends the village nursery, which follows a Montessori approach.  He’s enjoying all the normal things that toddlers love, here he is on a toy car.

And here’s our favourite picture, Ousmane with his foster sister.  He and his sister, along with several other siblings, live with their SOS Mother in a family home in the children’s village.

We love receiving updates from the babies we’re supporting and hope you do too.  Visit www.frombabieswithlove.org today – it’s your purchases that help children like Ousmane have safe and happy childhoods.  But wow don’t they grow up fast!

This World Orphan Week: Introducing Gloria!

This World Orphan Week we would like to introduce you to little Gloria!  14 months old, she arrived at her SOS Children’s Village in Chipata, Zambia, in October 2012.

Chipata is the main town in Zambia’s Eastern Province; rural-urban migration has contributed to it’s growing population. The construction of the railway line along the Nacala Corridor (linking Zambia to the coast of Mozambique, via Malawi) brings population growth through migrant labour.  It also brings an increased number of HIV infections and the expansion of informal and squatter settlements. HIV infection rates have risen and there’s a particularly high rate of family breakdown and child abandonment. Around one in six of all children in Chipata are orphans, compared to one in 12 in the general population.

Thanks to her SOS Mother, all the team at SOS Children, donors and supporters including our customers, Gloria has a wonderful childhood ahead; safe, loved, growing up in a family with brothers and sisters and she’ll receive an education.

Here’s a lovely picture of some of the children’s she’ll be surrounded by:

 

Alongside Ousmane, Mariama, Anjali and Sandrine, we’re thrilled to be donating our profits to support little Gloria and are looking forward to watching her grow up!  Follow her, and all the childrens’ news, plus check out the gorgeous new additions to our baby clothes range at www.frombabieswithlove.org

 

Your shopping = support to another nursery school!

Thanks to your custom we’re now supporting the 114 children that live in the SOS Children’s Village in Lilongwe, Malawi!   We’re supporting the village, and in particular the nursery school, which cares for babies and toddlers in the village as well as the surrounding community.

Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, has high levels of malnourishment.   Many parents, especially single mothers, often go without eating for several days at a time – what little food is available goes to the children.   Parents weakened by hunger can mean they are unable to care for their children, and often suffer from weak immunity to common illnesses such as colds.  Challenges such as these create harsh conditions for children, so the work of organisations like SOS Children to secure a loving home, nutritious diet, health and education for every child, is critical.

The children’s village in Liliongwe opened in 1994; it has 12 family houses that care for 114 children.  In addition to the nursery school, there is a primary and secondary school, a medical centre, youth home and vocational training centre.

The medical centre provides healthcare for babies, children, and mothers.   Reflecting on the incredible care I received from the NHS during my pregnancy, and that my son has received ever since, I appreciate even more how critical these services are.   Services that many of us find hard to imagine, like care for those living with HIV/ AIDS, or care for children that get malaria.   Services we wouldn’t necessarily even think of, like programmes to decrease malnutrition.    Plus of course all the things we are used to here in the UK, from babies’ inoculations to care for common illnesses such as diarrhoea.

We’re so pleased to make our small contribution to all of SOS Children’s incredible work in Lilongwe.   To know that the 114 children in the village live with the love of their SOS foster mothers, brothers and sisters, and that the village services support many other children in the community, spurs us onwards to provide more and more support!  Which, of course, is down to you, our customers and supporters.   So as always, an enormous thank you!  We hope you are enjoying knowing how you’re helping vulnerable children, whilst your little loved ones are enjoying their baby clothes!

New Year message from Mariama’s village in The Gambia

Starting the New Year with a lovely message, we’ve received a heart warming update from Mariama’s family in The Gambia.

Mariama lives in Basse, a village with 112 children who live in 12 family houses.  Growing up fast, her family has updated us that dancing is her favourite past time, and that she loves music.

In the letter we received the SOS Mothers explain: “words may not be enough to express how much we feel, smiles may not be enough to show how much we appreciate your generous support…. We can be proud of our joint success and believe that through courage and hope we can achieve our goals”.

What a lovely message to receive at the beginning of the year… to fuel our determination to support many more children like Mariama to have the fair start in life they deserve.

Thank you for being part of creating a wonderful happy childhood for Mariama, the other children we support, and the new children we’ll meet in 2013!

Happy Christmas Baby Sandrine!

We’re very excited to share news of a new baby we’re supporting, Sandrine, in Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is an extremely poor country; at 53 years life expectancy is very low.  770,000 children in Burkina Faso are growing up without parental care, thousands being orphaned by AIDS. HIV & AIDS exacerbates child labour – as households lose adult members, family income declines so children have to contribute financially.  This in turn impacts education, only a quarter of the population knows how to read and write.

Creating change in this overwhelming context, SOS Children has been working in Burkina Faso since the 1990s.  In March 2012 Sandrine moved in to the SOS Children’s village in Dafra, a suburb of Burkina Faso’s second largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso, where 12 SOS families provide a loving home for around 120 children.

The children attend the SOS nursery school together with children from the neighbourhood, ensuring they are integrated in to the local community.  They go on to complete their education at the SOS primary and secondary school, which is attended by 900 children, making it an important educational institution in the region. The village has a social centre that provides health services, counseling and care for families affected by HIV/AIDS.

Sandrine’s SOS Mother has written to tell us a little about her: she’s a lively girl, very curious and eager to explore.  Sandrine has elder SOS siblings, whom she is very observant of so she can imitate what they do.  They say that you rarely see Sandrine walk as she prefers to run all the time!

This time of year feels extra special to meet Sandrine and know that we are helping her SOS Mother, and the whole SOS Children team, give her a fair start in life.   Wishing you a very happy Christmas little Sandrine!

Anjali’s second start in life

Meet Anjali!  She’s 20 months old and from India, and from babies with love has just begun supporting her.   Anjali is an orphan, but she began a new life when she was welcomed to the SOS Children’s village in Faridabad, northern India at the beginning of this year.

India is the world’s largest democracy and is one of the fastest growing developing countries.    Yet the population of over 1 billion face many social problems – in the context of great inequality.   47% of children under 5 are malnourished, and there is a high incidence of child labour and out-of-school children.

But thanks to the love and care from her SOS Mother in the children’s village, Anjali will grow up without many of the challenges and worries that so many Indian children face.

Faridabad children’s village is the smallest in India.  It has 5 family houses and 4 youth houses.   There is a combined nursery, primary and secondary school for 1,400 children – from the village and surrounding community.   Faridabad village is also a training centre for all the SOS Children’s villages in India.

We are so delighted to have received a letter from the Village this week, and adorably, this heart warming picture of the village, drawn by one of the children.   Looks like Anjali might grow up to be a footballer!

Celebrations at SOS Children’s new Village in Zambia!

On 10th October new SOS foster mothers welcomed guests celebrating the opening of SOS Children’s new village in Chipata, Zambia!

In Chipata one in six children are orphans. “Filthy, hungry and with nothing. You wouldn’t believe the state the children are in when they come to us”, confided Mulenga-Chilambo, Village Director.  But as the charity SOS Children reported, the children no longer have to worry about the hardships they have suffered in their short lives.   Now settling in with their new SOS foster months, they have the love and security they need to flourish.

The children are now living in family homes headed by their SOS foster mother.  Each home has a large living space, a kitchen, two bathrooms, bedrooms with bunk-beds for the children, a porch and garden.  The gardens have a vegetable plot, so the children can learn the skills to produce food for themselves and their families.

By donating its profits from selling organic baby clothes from babies with love is supporting the new nursery school, where toddlers in the village, and the surrounding community, will access education for the first time.

Alongside SOS Children, all the new families and the many UK supporters that have made Chiapata Village possible, we are so happy to see the wonderful celebrations and look forward to watching the children grow up!

You are SOS Children’s Supporter of the Month!

 

A huge thank you to SOS Children for selecting from babies with love as Supporter of the Month!

We’re enormously proud to be donating 100% of our profit to, in partnership with SOS Children, support orphaned and abandoned children.   SOS Children believes all children should belong to a family.  They look after babies and children who have lost their parents through war, famine, disease or poverty.    Their approach is to build a community for children who have nobody else to turn to; they run an amazing 518 Villages in 125 countries, where children are given a home, a family and a new mother, brothers and sisters.

SOS Children’s newest village is in Chipata, Zambia. Baby Audrey has just moved in.   Just 3 months old she was founded abandoned in a field.   Now she’ll be part of the Chipata Village community, live in her new, loving home, with her foster mother and family.

Learning about the babies and children is hugely rewarding all of us in the from babies with love team.   But actually it’s you our – customers and supporters – who are the true Supporters of the Month!  We hope you feel the same way we do!  We hope you’re enjoying your organic baby clothes, and of course, enjoying knowing how you’ve contributed to changing the lives of babies like Audrey.

As well as supporting the running of the nursery school, in the coming months we will begin supporting some of the babies that have just moved in to Chipata Village.  Right now we’re about to begin supporting our 3^rd baby, a one year old girl in India.   We can’t wait to find out more about her – so watch this space!

And, like all of us here, enjoy being Supporter of the Month! 

Flying the Flag for Social Enterprise

Wow!  We are delighted that from babies with love is an England finalist for Start Up of the Year at the Social Enterprise 2012 awards!

We are shortlisted amongst some great social enterprises, from an organization creating jobs for ex-offenders to one that works to widen access to top universities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

So we’re feeling very honoured!

Many people don’t know what a social enterprise is… I hope that very soon it will be a widely understood term… in the meantime we hope we are helping spread the concept through our online shop.  In addition to from babies with love, I bet you’ve come across a social enterprise, but maybe without realising it… Have you ever bought a Big Issue? Been to the Eden Project? Watched Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen?

Social Enterprise UK describes social enterprises as “…businesses that trade to tackle social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances, or the environment.  They make their money from selling goods and services in the open market, but they reinvest their profits back into the business or the local community.  And so when they profit, society profits”.

from babies with love is a social enterprise because we sell baby clothes and donate 100% of our profits to fund the care of orphaned and abandoned babies.

We, like many social enterprises, are accredited by the Social Enterprise Mark. This means that from babies with love has proved it is genuine against independently assessed criteria for social enterprise. The Mark provides assurance that our profits are used to improve the lives of orphaned and abandoned children, acting as a guarantee that from babies with love is trading for people and planet.

The social enterprise sector is growing and my bet is in time we’ll have many more options to buy products – that we would buy anyway – from social enterprises.   The thing I love about that is it’s a win-win-win situation:

-       You enjoy your product,

-       You get the added bonus of enjoying knowing the profit is helping society,

-       Society is better off as a result of your purchase.

Fingers crossed that from babies with love progresses in the Social Enterprise Awards!  But most of all I hope all the amazing social enterprises, across all the award categories, will continue in their successes – so that in no time at all buying from social enterprises is just an everyday part of what we all do.