give

a mother and her son at Lua Nova by Renato Stockler

Raise your hand if you have extra scrapbooking supplies laying around your house. Me, too!

I have just the project for you, which I will tell you about it in a second, but first, do you read my sister, Julianne's blog? She leads a very exciting life. In the past year she has worked for UNICEF and lived in Brooklyn, moved to Berlin, spent the summer with her beloved in Africa, attended a world conference on maternal health in India, and survived a drive through the desert to Utah with me and my kids. :) Now she's living in Brazil, working for an organization that helps young mothers.

I know. Most of the time I have a hard time believing that we share DNA. She's amazing.

In her own words, this is what she is doing in Brazil:

"Lua Nova is a non-profit organization based outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil that houses and rehabilitates adolescent mothers in recovery from drug use, prostitution, homelessness, abuse, and abandonment. Many all of the above. The process of recovering from a drug addiction, forced prostitution or domestic abuse is already a challenge of Everest proportions, but couple such events with the fact that you are only 16, your family is almost entirely absent and abusive, and on top of everything you are now a mother.

How can you begin to heal from such a convolution of circumstances? How does one cope with forced motherhood borne out of trauma and violence? At such a young age? With the emotional health and stability of these mothers teetering in such precarious realms, the potential to be a fully engaged mother is muted or even non-existent. In most cases, the girls come to Lua Nova with no connection whatsoever to their children, as they themselves are in the process of recovering from horrific personal experiences of pain and suffering. Neglect is a huge issue: not only were the girls themselves neglected by their own families and impoverished communities, but now their own fragile psychological health renders it nearly impossible for them to care for their children in a meaningful way.

My role in the organization is to design a  systematic therapy program to help the girls form a stronger bond with their kids. Help them break through their emotional trauma and bolster their capacity as mothers. Intimidating? Heavens yes. I do this by holding group support sessions with the girls to start building up their self-esteem and confidence as individuals and as mothers. The sessions I’m designing rely a great deal on art therapy and playful activities in order to help the girls connect and engage with the objectives of the project in an active way. I’m fighting apathy, shyness, anger, peer pressure and general mental instability in trying to steer the girls into caring for and engaging with this new life [and child] of theirs. A life without the crutch of drugs or violence. And one in which love and connection with a sweet new child is the new centerpiece. This is an opportunity for the girls to break out of the poverty cycle of drugs and abuse and begin life with a strong sense of purpose... It is not only the beginning of their childrens' lives, but also their own."

Totally heavy, right?

Well, she needs our help. 

Here's where you and your extra scrapbooking supplies come in: Julianne would like to give each of the girls she is working with a scrapbook so that they can document their new lives with their children.  Just something simple that the girls could put photos of their kids in or write about their experiences. What do you think? Can you help?

I made two this afternoon. It was fun and easy! I used two 1/2 inch binders from OfficeMax, a pack of scrapbook paper that I got on clearance at Joann's, and a pack of white cardstock (I spent about $12 and had lots of paper left over).

I would love the scrapbooks to be unique, but they should each include:

• one 1/2 inch 3-ring binder
• 25 pages, made up of any combination of the following:

1. scrapbook paper

2. pages to hold photos (I glued rectangles on scrapbook paper so the girls can highlight some photos)

3. blank cardstock (on a few pages of the plain cardstock, I glued bits of leftover scrapbook paper)

Scrapbooking isn't really my thing, so I kept my books simple. But you wouldn't have to.

Here are some other tips from Julianne:

1. The girls love pink, purple, sort of girly looking things like butterflies, and bright colors.

2. Since they don't speak any English, nothing with writing would work (unless it's in Portuguese:).

Being a mother is hard, and I can't even begin to imagine the lives these young mothers have already led. The least I can do is give them a cute place to put pictures of their babies, right? Who's with me? 


Leave a comment if you have a question. Email me if you would like to help (barefootstephanie@gmail). I need at least 25 scrapbooks by November 1 so I can ship them off to Julianne. 

Thank you! Thank you!