Those of you who have visited some of our partner communities in Africa will be very familiar with the sight of babies and toddlers tied to their granny’s or older siblings’ backs. I guess that, like me, you will have marvelled at the skill with which they are attached so securely. But perhaps we haven’t thought about what long hours of being carried in this way does both to the child and to the granny or older child.
During their recent visit to the UK, Carolyn and George Snyman, the Co-founders of Hands at Work in Africa, shared with us some of Hands at Work’s dreams and priorities for 2022, one of which is for work with under-fives. Carolyn asked us to think about what it is that the child sees when s/he is attached to her Gogo’s (grandmother’s) back, and of course the answer is “just her Gogo’s back”! Carolyn reminded us that a child’s early years are vital to their physical and emotional development, which is why Hands at Work is creating a programme for under-fives in the Care Points across all of the eight countries where we serve. The idea is to make the Care Points safe, nurturing places where toddlers are fed, able to play, learn and grow, and have space to sleep, which in turn gives their grannies a few hours of freedom to tend their crops or fetch water, and their siblings the freedom to attend school, or just to play and be children.
Alicia Ralph, one of the Canadian long-term Volunteers based at the Hub in South Africa, was given the task of making this dream a reality across Africa. She began by appointing Under-Fives Champions in all of the Service Centres across Africa, and communicating to them the five principles underpinning the work with under-fives, which are: security, food, love, sleep and play.
These Champions have the task of appointing a Care Worker for the under-fives in each of the Care Points, and of teaching, supporting and encouraging them in their work.
During our visit to Hands at Work Care Points in Zimbabwe in July, David and I had the privilege of seeing what the under-fives programme looks like in practice. We saw Care Workers who had really caught the vision of nurturing the little children at their Care Points. One of these is Florence at the Chinyausunsi Care Point, one of the communities supported by Hands at Work UK which does not yet have a partner.
Florence had created a kind, safe and caring atmosphere for the children and was teaching them through play and song. They even had a special song which they all sang as they trooped off to the lavatories together! There was a designated space for under-fives work which the Care Workers had created by sectioning off part of the children’s shelter, with blinds made from mats, rush mats for them to sit on, and mattresses for their afternoon nap.
The work that we witnessed at Chinyausunzi and some of the other Care Points we visited in Zimbabwe is being replicated throughout all of Hands at Work Care Points in Africa. The under-fives programme is just one of the 2022 Hands at Work ‘Dreams and Priorities’, which are making a real difference in the lives and future prospects of some of the most vulnerable children in Africa.
Jane Newsome
October 2022