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January 2, 2004/Tevet 8 5764, Vol. 56, No. 15
'Baby Help' aids Argentine parents
FLORENCIA ARBISER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
BUENOS AIRES - It's tough being a parent these days in cash-strapped Argentina. But it can be even tougher being an unplanned baby.
Growing up, Johanna Klas, 21, was used to private schools, private health insurance and a comfortable middle-class life. But after Argentina's economy collapsed at the end of 2001, Klas and her family fell into poverty.
Her parents lost their jobs, the family had a home mortgage to pay and the young Klas and her two siblings began going to Jewish welfare organizations for their daily meals.
Then Klas learned that her life would change forever: She was pregnant with an unplanned baby, due this Feb. 11. Now she has to worry about getting enough nourishment for her baby, both during her pregnancy and after.
Klas is not unique among Argentine Jews.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which provides many of the welfare services for Argentine Jews, says babies and pregnant mothers are among the most vulnerable of the country's Jews.
Approximately 35,000 of Argentina's roughly 200,000 Jews receive JDC support in Argentina; of them, 803 babies under 3 years of age and 98 pregnant women live below the poverty line.
Faced with the possibility of un-dernourishment, these women and their children are the target of a new JDC program call-ed Baby Help.
"Now that the storm seems to be over," Alejandro Kladniew, the local JDC official, said of Argentina's slowly improving economic situation, "we are focusing on the most vulnerable cases."
The new Baby Help program is meant to do just that, with an estimated budget of $330,000 for 2004.
"We wish to assure a safe upbringing for these babies," Viviana Bendersky, Baby Help's coordinator, told JTA.
In Buenos Aires, an entire floor of a local Jewish organization has been remodeled to serve as Baby Help's central offices. The new space serves as a meeting place for parents, pediatric experts and early-stimulation workshops to benefit babies.
At the Baby Help center, donated clothes, strollers, bassinets and baby tubs fill the room, waiting for poverty-stricken mothers who need them.
In August, Baby Help distributed to parents its first "Baby Help bugs," kits filled with food, vitamins, educational brochures and medicines.
In October the group launched a vaccination program, providing hepatitis and chicken-pox shots, which public hospitals do not provide.
Baby Help officials say they also expect to be able to pay three months worth of day-care fees for babies whose parents have jobs.
The program held a Hanukkah party for babies and their young parents on Dec. 29. The group also has held 15 different celebrations for new babies over the last four months.
Klas is one of the two pregnant women and 31 babies that are benefiting from the Baby Help program through the Sephardi Israeli Community Association of Buenos Aires.
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