helen weld public health

Eight arms, four eyes, three laps, one huge heart
and a special 'sixth sense' of motherhood. . .

Mamas who attend GHI’s weekly trainings at their local health centers often have to walk, with their small children in tow, for up to two hours. Upon arrival at the training it is encouraged that the children get left with two ECD (early childhood development) mamas in a separate area. This gives the mamas being trained an opportunity to have a bit of a break for two hours and to focus on the important learning without the distractions of their restless toddlers. It is also a chance for these children to be stimulated in new ways, enhancing learning skills and development through play, songs and fun activities. All children receive an ample portion of Sosoma, a fortified porridge, which is prepared and served by the ECD mamas. These women are loving, gentle individuals with great patience, despite being overwhelmed with the task of caring for a large group of toddlers and babies with few resources in a very limited space. Watching them in action is quite extraordinary, as they keep all these children happy and fed, exemplifying the attributes of the “sixth sense” of motherhood.

This past week Annonciata, GHI’s training supervisor extraordinaire, and I gathered the ECD mamas from Gasabo (8 mamas total) and Musanze (28 mamas total) Districts to give each group a three-hour training. We were also fortunate having Kelly Weese, a volunteer with Bright School/Teach Rwanda, collaborate and help teach. Despite the ECD mamas’ full days and some with long distances to travel, we had 100% attendance. Other than knowing their work partner, no mamas knew each other previously. All were definitely eager to learn and get to know their cohort (some arrived two hours early!). It was wonderful to witness their instant camaraderie as they settled into conversations and broke out into spontaneous heartfelt song and dance throughout the morning.

Giving these mamas an opportunity to share the positive aspects of their jobs, as well as their concerns and challenges, was a good way to begin the training. Empowering them with new knowledge, skills and ideas was also a primary goal of the morning. Rudimentary stages and realms of child development were taught and the importance and value of play as children’s work was emphasized. Child safety and prevention of accidents was another topic. Ideas for simple and economical activities, such as ‘painting’ with water, making rattles with plastic water bottles and pebbles (the lid taped), making cloth books out of fabric scraps, sock puppets and playing with scarves were all well received suggestions. During the training I asked, “Wouldn’t it be good if you all had eight arms, as well as eyes at the back of your heads for these few hours on the job?” Hoots of laughter and clapping was their response.

We hope that this is a great start to create a solid ECD program for GHI’s families. Purchasing and assembling a large array of appropriate sustainable toys (e.g. blocks, board books, balls, finger puppets) to be stored in a crate at all 18 health centers is a dream we hope to realize soon with a successful grant proposal. Giving these motivated ECD mamas tools and support to provide a nurturing, fun and safe environment for these children is a vital piece of GHI’s program waiting to be implemented.

Helen

  Kinigi Kids

 Muhoza 'big guys' 

Jacqueline at Muhoza, needing

eight arms and three laps! 

Dancing mamas

Angelique and Jacqueline

Dorothea and Kesia

Jacqueline and Vestine

Soline and Christine

 Musanze ECD Mamas 

Gasabo ECD Mamas with

Kelly, Helen and Annonciata