Alashi’s Basket
An Alashi Foundation initiative
A welcome gift for every baby born with Down syndrome in Nagaland. Free, and delivered by a parent who has walked the same road.
That is the first word a family should hear when their baby is born. Too often, a Down syndrome diagnosis arrives with worry, outdated information and a hospital room gone quiet.
Alashi’s Basket changes the first message. Within days of a birth or a diagnosis, a parent from our community brings the family a basket, sits with them, answers questions, and leaves a phone number they can call at any hour. The basket says what we believe: your baby is welcome, loved and expected to thrive.
Everything a family needs in the first weeks, and nothing that reads like a medical file.
A note from a parent of a child with Down syndrome, written for your family.
A blanket or outfit, and a first book or toy. A gift, because a birth is a celebration.
What Down syndrome is and is not, what to expect in the first year, and the health checks worth asking for. In English and Nagamese.
Parents nearby who have agreed to be called, and doctors, therapists and services in Nagaland that families have found helpful.
To our gatherings, our family network and to Alashi Foundation itself. You are not doing this alone.
Fill in the request below. Parents, grandparents, friends, doctors, nurses and ASHA workers can all ask for a basket.
Within two working days we phone to say congratulations, confirm the address and ask what language the family prefers.
In Dimapur and Chümoukedima we deliver by hand. Elsewhere in Nagaland we post the basket and connect the family by phone.
There is no cost to the family, ever. Requests are confidential and we only contact the parents once the person requesting tells us they are ready.
Three short parts: you, the baby, and where the basket should go. Nothing here is shared outside the foundation.
Prefer to talk? Call or WhatsApp us instead.
Email, with “Basket request” in the subject.
Amentoli Zhimomi
Alashi’s mother. Founder and CEO.
We reply within two working days. No cost to the family.
Delivered a baby with Down syndrome yourself? Become a delivery parent. One visit, one phone number, a lifelong difference.
Keep our number at the nurses’ station. Tell families about the basket on the day of the diagnosis, and let us take it from there.
Sponsor a basket, donate blankets, books or baby clothes, or help with printing and postage.
Write to us and say which of the three you can do. We will reply with the next step.
