oh heavens you are all so wonderful

ya'all are too much. your comments were so, so fantastic! i'm so happy so many of you took the time to share your thoughts. it helps me a great deal i tell you. and i should mention, that one of the intrinsic parts of the program will be teaching the girls how to make baby-carrying slings - both as an income generating activity for them, but also as a way to reinforce these connections we're trying to form in the therapy sessions. so that's totally up the alley of lots of your comments - huzzah!

and it's so much of what you say: breastfeeding is a miracle worker, and just having the women hold and touch their children is so crucial. the problems emerge with those girls who come to lua nova with kids who are already 2-6 years old... (which most of them do)... forming a connection that late in the child's life is very challenging. when the babies should have been breastfed and held, the girls were in incredibly unideal circumstances - so how do you compensate for that?

there are girls who come to the facility while pregnant, and the difference with them is stunning. one girl, pictured on the left here, came here pregnant, and now breastfeeds her 3 month old exclusively (pictured on the right). she has the same background as the rest, and is only 15, but her connection to the baby is so apparent. she is always holding her, talking to her, smiling with her. it's so nice to see, as so many of the other girls mostly ignore their children altogether... it's not even a negative relationship, it's a completely non-existent one...

heavens! today was very hard. i won't detail the failures etc., only to say that i can't get over how insane it is that for each of these girls, many incredibly challenging things are happening simultaneously: how overwhelming is it to be a mother? and then compound that with abandonment, drug detox, recovery from prostitution and abuse? one of these things is enough for anyone - but can you imagine all at once? and as a teenager? alone?

no wonder working with the girls is so challenging - their very existence is compounded and compressed hardship. and actually working through that feels like you're just beating your head against the wall...

ANYWAY: thank you thank you for your help. i really will use all of it, and please keep it coming if you can. i really am more grateful than i can say. it all moves me a great deal to know the care and love in this world - even through blog comments!

beijos e embracos,
julianne.