Relief at last: A Basch Help volunteer makes deliveries in London
(Picture: ES Composite)“The lowest point of my life was when a cockroach fell onto my baby daughter’s arm while I was feeding her in our flat,” Faiza recalled. “She screamed and I had to smack it off her.”
The 26-year-old single mother was rehoused due to the infestation and put in a hotel in Willesden with just one double bed for herself and her three children — a newborn and two under three. There was only a shower so nowhere to bathe her children and the other rooms in the hotel were filled with single people, many smoking drugs and playing loud music through the night.
That was when Basch Helps stepped in. The community enterprise runs an Angel Box scheme which delivers a supply of baby essentials to new mothers as well as mental health support. Demand for the scheme has rocketed as Londoners struggle under the burden of the cost of living crisis.
For Faiza (not her real name), Basch Helps made a massive difference. “I was overwhelmed. They gave me a travel cot so my baby could sleep separately and a bath that I could use for my daughters. They kept checking on me and gave me nappies, wipes and formula — all things I couldn’t afford.”
Money raised through our On the Breadline Christmas Appeal, a joint campaign with our sister title the Independent and in partnership with Comic Relief, will help keep projects such as Angel Box running.
Since the cost-of-living crisis, there has been an increase in middle income families needing the Angel Box service, added Bader Berjaoui, head of the Angel Box scheme. “We are supporting hundreds of families and it is becoming relentless. With mortgage rate rises, we are getting more applications from middle income families. We have teachers, nurses and midwives applying for an angel box.”
Mr Berjaoui helps deliver the boxes to those in need. Among those that stick in his mind are a one-year-old boy being treated for leukaemia who returns from hospital to shared accommodation and little food; an Albanian woman trafficked here into the sex trade who has no access to public funds; and a working midwife who earns so little she can barely afford nappies for her own baby.
For each of the struggling families, the angel box is a lifeline. It contains more than 65 essential baby items, including nappies, wipes, clothes, sponges, towels and blankets. Mothers can ask for particular items such as formula milk or a breast pump. Parents can request high chairs, cots and pushchairs. Everything is new and delivered within 72 hours.
“Our applicants are mainly young parents, lone parents, asylum seekers, victims of domestic abuse or human trafficking, facing homelessness or post-partum psychosis sufferers,” Mr Berjaoui said. “Most don’t have any income. We are looking at a disposable income of between £8 and £36 a week.” Unlike baby banks, the items are ordered specifically for each baby and are new. He added: “We will always give them the right sized nappy or the particular formula the baby is used to. This has a positive impact on the mental well-being of the mother.”
The service can change people’s lives. Ayesha (not her real name) was left traumatised after being cut off by her family after having a baby out of wedlock, but is now one of the organisation’s success stories. She was housed in a hotel in London, away from her home city, with no friends or support network, because she had been threatened with violence by her family.
When Mr Berjaoui first met Ayesha, her baby was cooing, but she was staring at the wall. “You could see she had been crying and had not slept for days. She was in despair. Our team dropped everything. You cannot leave a parent in that kind of distress,” he said.
With the help of the Basch Helps team, Ayesha got back on her feet and is now living in a flat with her son. Mr Berjaoui added: “We are not just delivering relief for children, we are there to look after the parent as well.”
