In remote parts of Hazaribag, India, many women face pregnancy and childbirth without access to medical care or basic health knowledge. A significant number suffer from anaemia, malnutrition, reproductive tract infections and poor maternal health. Heavy agricultural workloads, cultural expectations and limited access to services make it even harder for mothers to receive the care they need.

Pratim knows this reality firsthand. A mother of three from a marginalised tribal community, she studied up to Grade 10. Today, she is a health educator and community leader through the Jesuit-run Swastheya Rural Medical Awareness project, led by our Jesuit partners in Hazaribag.

This Mother’s Day (10 May), we honour women like Pratim.

With your support, Pratim now travels daily across 32 villages, working alongside local sisters to support women with maternal health, nutrition and hygiene. Many of the women she meets are illiterate or have had little access to education.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, women who were once isolated are now being reached with life changing care and knowledge.

“Many women do not know how to care for their health or their family’s health, so they and their children suffer in silence,” Pratim explains.

“Sometimes we must go back again and again… but now women are learning, taking care of themselves, and beginning to speak up and support one another.”

Reflecting on the wider impact, she shares: “I’m hoping that women are supported, many are illiterate, so they can have a better life. They learn how to care for their health and their family. Before the project, this was not happening.”

“They were growing weak, very lean and thin, because they did not understand nutrition or healthy food habits. Many eat only once or twice a day. The sisters have helped teach proper nutrition, the right vegetables, and local medicines to build strength.”

“In the past, I was anxious about what could happen to my children. Now I can help remove that fear for other mothers.”

Pratim

The Swastheya Rural Medical Awareness program

In 2025 alone, this program reached over 1,100 people. Young mothers were trained in nutrition, childcare and early childhood health practices, and 550 people received medicines and ongoing health support. Your support is helping ensure this vital work can continue to reach even more families.

Pratim’s work is deeply personal. “In the past, I was anxious about what could happen to my children. Now I can help remove that fear for other mothers.”

Through your generosity, women who once struggled in silence are now finding their voice, their confidence and their dignity.

This Mother’s Day, you can honour the love of mothers by giving a gift that transforms lives through a Gifts for Change gift card.