So what is a mother’s club?

The Nigerian Red Cross’s Ikwo Imoke explains:

“A mother’s club is a group of women that we bring together – mothers, sisters, aunties, and women in the affected communities.

We give them basic education on how to feed their children with locally available food items that they can source at very little cost. And then we also teach them some basic hygiene habits: basic hand washing, when and how to wash their hands, how to cover and process their food, how to collect water, how to store it and dispense without introducing any form of infection that might cause diseases to spread.

Why mothers?

“Whenever there's a crisis, we know that the most vulnerable people, the people who are most affected are primarily women and children. And the mothers tend to stick more to the children.”

“In most homes, the man is busy looking for means of livelihood for the families. So, we thought it was crucial for the mothers to be educated and be given basic knowledge, adequate for them to make informed decisions.”

The Red Cross volunteers like Jemilah also share knowledge on how to make a nutritious and easily digestible baby food using a mix of locally available and affordable grains and beans. This nutritious mix replaces the less nutritious starch-based foods often relied on in Nigerian homes.

Beyond just food

But the mothers clubs go far beyond food.

Red Cross volunteers and mother’s club leaders also share lessons in making soap from locally sourced materials, on how to produce sesame oil for cooking and other purposes, and in making delicious snacks made of sesame seeds and honey, among other things.

All these can be used in the household or be sold by mothers club members to bring revenue into the group.

“The reason why we teach them the skill is we want them to depend on themselves,” says Jemilah, the Nigerian Red Cross volunteer.

“So if their husbandd don't have enough money to give them so they can buy something that they they need, they will have the skills to make these things and sell them.”

This is the other magic ingredient that goes into the mother's clubs. It's not just about helping women make extra income. It's about a collective response that benefits the larger group. Listen to Ikwo speak more about that in the episode.

And what about the fathers?

“We learned from experience that some women were not able to join the mothers club because they did not have the permission of their husbands.

So we started what we call the Papas Clubs, where the men do similar kinds of activities as the women – they come together once a week to discuss issues around nutrition with our volunteers.

“So the men now are more involved in the nutrition of the family and now they understand more why their wives should be given the permission to attend the mother's club. Now they understand why the feeding of the child and supporting family health should be prioritized.”

In many communities, having the husband’s support can be a matter of life and death. To make her point, Ikwo tells the story of a severely malnourished child in one of the villages she visited where a father refused to allow his severely malnourished child to go to the treatment centre, despite the pleadings of his wife, his wife’s family and lcoal health authorities.

“It was heartbreaking,” recalls Ikwo, who talks more about the child’s story in the episode.

“Unfortunately there's nothing we could have done about it,” adds Aduratomi Bolade, the IFRC’s communications officer in Abuja, who was also there that day. “And there's really nothing that the woman could do … she's more or less helpless. Which is one of the strong reasons why Papa's Club should be should be encouraged.”

According to Ikwo Imoke, the Fathers Clubs are in fact having a tremendous impact in terms of helping mothers and fathers work more closely together on family health.

“Because now we don't struggle so much because now they understand why we are bringing these women together and what the women are learning when they meet with the Red Cross.