Mothers helping mothers – the grassroots project helping new mums in Direct Provision

This systematic failure to accommodate for pregnant people has long since existed in Direct Provision, set up in 1999. Elizabeth* arrived in Ireland from Zimbabwe in 2019 with her husband and three children, heavily pregnant. The family were placed in a Direct Provision centre.

The rules for those in Direct Provision meant that Elizabeth’s husband was unable to get a job forcing the family to rely on the weekly daily expenses allowance (€38.80 each for an adult and €29.80 for each child, once they are registered with a birth cert and PPSN, which often delays the receipt of the payment).

“I tried getting help,” says Elizabeth. “I was told that the only help you can get is after you’ve given birth, when you’re given €50 to €100 to get a buggy. The thing is, it only happens after you’ve given birth, but you don’t have anything so you have to improvise with the money you get every week.”

In the months, weeks and days leading up to your baby being born, you get virtually nothing. A new parent can receive a small allowance for emergency supplies which can be used for maternity items but it fails to cover all costs. “It’s very frustrating and depressing,” says Elizabeth. “It’s so sad that it only comes after your baby. During the course of the pregnancy, there is nothing you can do. I always want to prepare for the baby, have a bag, and a few clothes to bring the child from the hospital, but I couldn’t get it.

“You have to be dependent on the system, you think of being back home and could do all these things yourself but now you’re in a situation where you really rely on the system. You think about your other kids and finding yourself stuck in a system. My husband couldn’t work then, if he could at least work then it’d be different, but he can’t provide for the kids, and we have to ask for everything, that’s frustrating.”

Some of the issues Elizabeth was facing were shared by other mothers in Direct Provision, one of whom got in touch with an organisation where Dublin-based mum-of-one Fiadh Melina (26) volunteered at the time.

Fiadh says: “The person who was running that organisation asked if I could help out a mum having a hard time in Direct Provision. She needed some help accessing medications and getting some products, some essentials that we take for granted, like a bottle.”

“Then another mother got in touch, then some dads, and that kind of grew throughout March/April 2020. And at the time, it was very casual and on a whim basis, scrabbling bits together, then an influx of requests came in over the summer. I needed more volunteers and we called the bits maternity kits.”

This would eventually became known as the Danú Project. Danú, in ancient Irish mythology, was an Irish mother goddess, so for Fiadh, chairperson of the Danú Project, the name seemed fitting. She adds: “The whole project started around mothers, most of us on board are mums. It just kind of worked, it made sense, there was general consensus. I think it’s a really nice, soft sounding word and kind of welcoming.”

Elizabeth got in touch with the Danú Project in 2020. She says: “I got so much help from Danú. They sent me almost everything, I didn’t have everything, no preparation in Direct Provision from anyone but at least Danú sorted everything. They even went the extra mile and brought stuff for my then five year old who was going into junior infants. They brought him a schoolbag for him to take to school. I was a bit stressed with the pregnancy, but they assisted with all that, which was all very nice.

“It was such a relief, I was so happy to know that at least at that time, you’d have someone to talk to, to know that you can rely on, that they made sure everything was delivered on time. It was very helpful.”

Her youngest, now a year old, is Eizabeth’s fourth child but the first born in Direct Provision. “If there was no Danú Project, I really don’t know what I would have done.”

There’s variation on what the Danú Project provides. On some days it could be nappies, buggies, on other days a money donation to go towards a flight to reunite an asylum seeking family.

The maternity kit that started it all is made up of maternity pads, nursing bras, breast pads, newborn clothes, swaddle cloths, nappies and other essentials. Kits can vary depending on personal circumstances. Often, there are callouts on their Instagram page for more specific or urgent requests.

“Babies are very expensive,” says Fiadh. “When we’re trying to provide for double the families, the prices hike. Luckily, the Hygiene Bank (a non-profit organisation providing hygiene and personal care products to those who can’t afford them) linked in with us, which was really helpful. They started during the first lockdown, providing organisations like ours with donations of products, hygiene stuff, nappies and shampoos that are really expensive in Direct Provision centres or hard to come by.”

The team behind the Danú Project has grown significantly since last year. Fiadh says: “The team now is made up of the original five of us who started the maternity kits in 2020 and then also three asylum seekers who are involved in the day-to-day, then reps in centres we work with. They communicate what we’re able to provide, and to direct people to get in touch with us.”

It goes without saying that the Danú Project is a non-profit organisation, and they’re currently in the process of obtaining charity status. “Last year we decided we’d splinter off and make a charity out of Danú so we could structure it properly, do fundraising. We want everything above board.”

Their application is ongoing. Fiadh adds: “We’ve learned that it’s a very long process but there are great plans for when it’s finally received. We’re still trying to grow our network.

“Our reach is only so far. When we get charity status we’ll have more scope, but right now we’re limited in what we can do in terms of funding. That’s the main thing.”

The best-case scenario for Fiadh and all the other mothers like Elizabeth is that the Danú Project wouldn’t need to exist, that those who arrive in Ireland will be provided with comfortable accommodation, given a chance to work for a living, and not have to ask for help.

“The aim is that the standards of Direct Provision get so much better that we aren’t needed to the capacity we are right now, even if it’s just a tiny bit,” Fiadh says. The goalposts are also always moving. She adds: “We’re constantly changing what we provide and how we provide things in response to the conditions and the feedback we get consistently from people in Direct Provision. We’d like to be able to continue with information sessions rather than trying to get nappies.

“Those bare minimum things should be provided, but that’s probably a pipe dream with how slowly things are dealt with.

“Blue sky thinking is that by 2022, they’ll provide all the maternity kit they need. If we’re being realistic, it’s that our network will be growing and that we’ll get charity status, and that our reach will be broader by next year.”

*Name changed. For more information on the Danú Project, follow them on Instagram @thedanuproject or linktr.ee/thedanuproject