"Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much" - Helen Keller The ability to face adversity and rise above it is a muscle Shaista has been strengthening since she lived in Afghanistan. Shaista and her family first came to the United States in February of 2017, just two days after the executive order that temporarily suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and almost halved the number of refugees allowed into the country that year. Although she had given birth to two healthy children, she struggled with infertility for another six years, undergoing various treatments that can have very exhausting side effects. When Shaista finally celebrated the success of a third pregnancy, the joyful tone was muted as doctors told her it was a high-risk pregnancy because of an umbilical chord anomaly; they told her to prepare for poor outcomes, including preterm delivery and low birthweight, which can bring an entirely new set of challenges. Throughout this time, Shaista had also been pursuing a dream of starting her own catering business. Her husband supported her dreams and her work outside of the home by sharing in childcare duties and encouraging words along the way as a true partner in life and work. She put herself and her business idea through rounds of presentations and feedback through the program, Start:Me, which also paired her with a mentor to help her towards becoming a successful entrepreneur. Just after giving birth to her third child in 2019 - a beautiful, healthy-sized boy! - Shaista worked incredibly hard to get access to a commercial kitchen for her business, Amani Catering. Shaista pumped at work for her newborn and began to grow a team of seven women who found true joy in their work together - cooking, community, and success. When COVID-19 suddenly forced entire nations and their businesses and infrastructure to shut down, Shaista realized she would have to do the same for the safety of her customers and community. Although she unfortunately had to close the doors to her business in 2019, she never closed to the doors to working with and serving women in her community. Shaista continued to help others figure out how to file paperwork for appointments and Medicaid and navigate the various systems in the U.S. throughout the pandemic. It is no surprise that her resilience, skills, and positive attitude were noticed by leadership, and helped her secure what soon became a full-time caseworker position at Refugee Women’s Network (RWN). To this day, Shaista has helped over 100 families in her community with things like rent assistance, social adjustment needs, ESL classes, and finding employment opportunities through her work at RWN. She is also a part of RWN's "Chef's Club" program, where she is able to help other female entrepreneurs who want to start their own catering businesses, which she understands more thoroughly than most due to her experience before and through COVID. Yet Shaista still has more contribute to the community - she also works with Georgia State as a Safe Care Provider to help provide training and education to families around improving parenting skills. If that weren’t enough, she also works with a program to share laptops with families and train them how to use them, an incredibly empowering experience she says, “because you don’t have to know English to be able to use a computer.” Shaista exemplifies the word resilience - she has bounced back stronger, more creative, and more capable of supporting and empowering women throughout her community in spite of the pandemic that shut down her small business. Not only does she continue to cook delicious meals for people in her family and community, but she also continues to dream of re-opening Amani Catering so that she can provide work opportunities to "other women who are struggling to find a suitable job due to language and other barriers." When invited to share any words of encouragement with other mothers, Shaista notes, “Mothers are so, so strong. Motherhood is a challenging phase, especially when you are an immigrant mother. But always remember that motherhood doesn't have to limit you from any opportunities - working gives you strength and helps you feel powerful about yourself. A mother can do any job she chooses!" “My hope is that the people in my community that I help will become independent someday and then they can go on to help others in our community as well,” Shaista says. She cannot help but share the love. Shaista, we see the power you hold within you, as it shines and encourages all those around you in your family, workplace, and community. You are a true Shero, and we thank you for sharing your story of resilience with us!
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“Mother’s love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” - Marion C. Garretty Have you ever felt like you’ve truly lost sense of time? That one day blends into the next, and you can’t remember when you last ate, or fed the kids, or if you celebrated your friend’s birthday last week or last year? For many of us, pandemic has brought this haze over our sense of time, where simple acts of feeding, cleaning, work-related tasks, and even leaving the house take monumental effort. For mothers of newborns, this brain fog is a common experience, which makes the fact that Hanan has birthed, nourished, and cared for not just one, but two, infants in pandemic all the more inspiring. Hanan is someone who greets visitors at her door with a huge smile, welcomes them into her home, and serves food and drink as she chats with them, as if they’ve been neighbors for years. Yet Hanan's hospitality and desire to befriend others was certainly challenged when she first came to the United States from Iraq in 2014. When Hanan entered the last trimester of her first pregnancy, the U.S. entered lockdown because of the emerging coronavirus, and people were discouraged from leaving their homes except for absolute essentials. This social isolation was incredibly challenging for many of us, but particularly difficult for new mothers who depend on community, and especially for women like Hanan who were not only first-time mothers, but brand new to the U.S., the healthcare system, and the cultural practices around birth and motherhood. In spite of all these challenges, Hanan pushed through the fog of new motherhood and pandemic and found herself strong and capable to nourish her infant, develop relationships with neighbors, and educate herself on what to expect at prenatal visits, how to ask for risks and benefits before every intervention, and her rights as a patient. Hanan gave birth to her second child in pandemic in February, and with the support of her husband and new friends, has continued to thrive. “There are many stressful times, but I know that I will get through it,” Hanan says of this foggy season. As we talk for this interview, she simply exudes resiliency of motherhood - she’s feeding her newborn, holding her toddler, chatting with us, rocking, comforting, smiling. “When I care for my kids and they are happy and healthy and smiling, this gives me great joy,” Hanan shares. When we asked Hanan if there was any encouragement she’d like to share with other mothers in this time, she “invites other moms to be patient with their kids when they are small like this, when they are home all the time. Because they will grow up fast, so enjoy this time with them… My first baby is one year now, and the time has gone so fast.” Thank you, Hanan, for showing us what a nurturing, strong, and empowered mother looks like. We are moved by your story, and honored to know you as a true Shero this Mother’s Day. Honor a Shero in Your Life:
Make a Donation Today and Embrace Will Send Your Honoree a Card “Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers — strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength." —Barbara Katz Rothman Studies have shown that giving birth can be more physically taxing than running a marathon. Most people who run a marathon have typically spent months of training, perfecting their race-day diet and routines, knowing exactly what distance they’ll run and a general idea of their expected results. However, mothers in labor begin their ultra-endurance athletic event without any such guaranteed course map, distance, or even outcomes. Childbirth can be the most unpredictable of major life events - with arguably the most cherished prizes - and still requires incredible energy, flexibility, mental fortitude, and physical strength, and that is why its participants should be considered Sheroes among us. Judith* is exactly that - a true Shero among us, who gave birth under the extraordinary circumstances of pandemic and personal challenges, and has come out stronger and more courageous than could be imagined. Although Judith had given birth three years ago in the United States, 2020 was a different environment all together - a completely new terrain, with unclear rules that changed constantly, and with a serious, scary threat to every person’s health. Yet the strength required to give birth remained and arguably intensified because of all these factors. When Judith went into labor last fall, in the midst of this uncertain environment, she was home with only her preschooler by her side; her partner was in Africa, unable to join her. Yet she faced this challenge with courage and faith as only a mother could. She trusted herself, drew from her own inner strength, and began to face each contraction with determination to see it through, one at a time. Thankfully, Judith’s labor course was short this time around, and she gave birth in her own home as it were, with an Embrace team member by her side before an ambulance could arrive for transportation to the hospital. In witnessing Judith give birth this way, Heidi Copeland says, “Judith clearly drew from an inner well of strength as she delivered her baby that day. It was such a joy and privilege to get to witness such incredible power and grace in the work of bringing new life into the world.” Our Shero, Judith, shares some words of wisdom to other people running the race of their lives: “Of the things that keeps me going - one of them is determination... I know that there are other people that have been through worse than I have been through, I know that, but I am determined that nothing is gonna stop me pushing. So, in life I guess every woman has to be determined… “And also I believe that I have a brighter future ahead of me. I know that. I strongly believe that. Those are some of the reasons that make me to be really strong and courageous, but God is the overall or the center of it all, He keeps me going because it’s actually not by my strength - neither by my wisdom or not even anything that I’m getting or any support or whatever - but I believe it is God that is keeping me going.” Judith, thank you for your determination, inner strength, and courage, and for sharing it with us at Embrace. You are a Shero among us! Happy Mother’s Day! *Name changed for privacy reasons ** Photo credit to Kurt Rosenhauer |
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