The Sintet Early Childhood Development Center in The Gambia recently received a water filter from ChildFund Germany, a device that provides clean, drinkable water. Before the delivery of the filter on March 18, the center`s staff had to manually filter water from an open well. The center serves 153 children in the western part of The Gambia, near the Senegal border.
The manager of the Eastern Foni Federation, ChildFund`s local partner, and the head of the ECD center expressed delight in the donation, which will make water filtration easier, faster and more reliable. The Gambia has a severe shortage of clean water, and ChildFund has provided filtration systems to several regions in this small country.
Since 1984, ChildFund has supplied safe drinking water to more than 79 percent of the families served in our program areas in The Gambia, as well as helped many build basic sanitary facilities.
Four-year-old Sithusi is full of energy and smiles. Until a year ago, she was anything but.
For the first years of her life, Sithusi hovered at the edge of severe malnutrition, and she was lethargic, sick and small for her age. Her mother, Chathurangani, had no idea how to help her.
In rural areas in Sri Lanka, where Sithusi and Chathurangani live, families are too often without — resources time, money, knowledge — to provide what their young children need.
The quality of children’s first years plays a strong role in their future physical, cognitive, communicative, social and emotional development. With funding from Fonterra, ChildFund is working in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, to help families fill those gaps through the ENHANCE (Ensure Nutrition, Health and Children’s Education) project, which also has programs in the Philippines and Indonesia.
“I didn’t give my child even the nutritious things that I can easily find in our own garden, because I didn’t know their nutritious value,” says Chathurangani, Sithusi’s mother.
A central purpose of the ENHANCE program is to enhance the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents and caregivers about the needs of children ages zero to five. So, to improve child nutrition in the area, the project approaches the problem from multiple angles, through teaching parents malnutrition awareness and how to prepare healthy meals, through training and support to plant home gardens and make and use their own compost and by providing nutritious midday meals at its Early Childhood Development centers.
“I didn’t give my child even the nutritious things that I can easily find in our own garden because I didn’t know their nutritious value,” says Chathurangani. “Now I know it well.” She fortifies Sithusi’s meals with greens and grains, and she meets weekly with her malnutrition awareness group to learn more. “Sithusi is happier, healthier and plays more often,” she says.
Nourishment for children takes a variety of shapes and includes much more than food.
