About Us
Meet Our Team
Pat Mc Mahon | Founder
Pat spear heads program development and oversight, while also pursuing international advocacy. Pat has been deeply touched by the plight of the less fortunate, particularly those suffering from the injustice of malnutrition. Pat leads Mothers First with empathy and works with passion to see radical change for the plight of hunger in our world.
Dr. Ashish Singh
Dr. Ashish Singh
Founder of the organisation Katumb. Mothers First and Katumb have worked together since both of our organised established themselves in 2004.
Kutumb central ethos is the family. They have a hostel for homeless children and have a large community outreach program.
In 2017 they became our implementation partner organisation here in India.
Reaka | Coordinator
Reaka | Project Manager
Reaka has worked with Mothers First since 2013. Despite a life marked by extreme hardship and poverty, she has always led the team with integrity.
Last year she became accomplished in reading and writing. For the past 12 months, Reaka has been trained by Kutumb to manage the project.
We are delighted to announce that from March 2024 Reaka is now the Manager of Mothers First.
Khokoon | Director
Khokoon, a Calcutta native, has faithfully worked with our team since 2004. His work is irreplaceable, directing on-the-ground projects and ensuring everything runs efficiently. Khokoon is well respected in Varanasi, and inspires us with his motivation and energy. In addition to his practical hard work, he sought medical training and is now our medical and nutrition specialist in the field.
Our Story
Listen to the founder of Mothers First tell the remarkable story of how the project started in 2004
As a farmer's son in rural Ireland, his passion for traveling roads less traveled found Pat Mc Mahon lost in a slum area in the city of Varanasi, Northern India.
Walking through the narrow streets, someone caught his eye. Pat met a child that would change the rest of his life. Tiza, only a baby, was literally dying of malnutrition. Desperate, he immediately took her to a private hospital close by to get her critical care. At that moment, the project began and Tiza’s life was saved. Within days he founded the charity that is now known as Mothers First by renting 10 beds permanently from the private children's hospital that was treating Tiza.
2005, Pat meets Tiza
2015, Tiza now a healthy young woman
From 2004 until 2013, Mothers First provided treatment of severe malnutrition in the hospital. At this point, treatment switched to a preemptive approach in which nutrition was prioritized at a community level. The project was the first in the city to be given local government approval to treat malnutrition in the villages with ‘Ready to eat food’ (RUTF). For the first time, the project had no walls.
In the villages, it became clear that that malnutrition had its origins in the unborn babies whose mothers were malnourished. In 2015, the project began targeted nutrition to mothers. Nourished mothers mean nourished babies. The success of the maternal nutrition program has led to preventing and not just treating malnutrition.
Mothers First is what we have become
Our story doesn’t end with community based nutrition projects. Mothers First seeks to be a voice for the voiceless. In 2015, Pat was in a village on a food distribution mission. He was asked to go see a mother who was reported to be unwell. Bending down to enter the hut, Pat found a fragile mother helplessly looking over her two children. The entire family was dying of malnutrition. Pat immediately sprung into action and began to assess their needs. However, on an emotional level, Pat was shaken.
When he left the hut, he fell to his knees and was overcome with the question: why this was allowed to happen in our world? He swore to himself to do whatever he could in his power to see a change in the world. Within two months, he attended his first international global conference on nutrition in Milan Italy. He hasn’t slowed down since, and has faithfully fought to give a voice to the voiceless.
Advocacy is at our forefront, as we fight for focus to be given to maternal nutrition in global nutrition targets and in the Sustainable Development Goals as outlined by the United Nations.