Where do the clouds come from PDF Print E-mail
Wilgamuwa ADP
Thursday, 17 December 2009
© World Vision 2009
Little Sachintha shades his blinking eyes with his tiny hands as his eyes travel with the big fluffy white cloud that’s passing over his head.

“Amma (mom) where do the clouds come from?” he asks.

“He asks a lot of questions,” Sujatha smiles as he picks him up, “sometimes when I don’t know the answer he would run to the grandmother or his father and would come and tell me what he learnt from them.”

Sachintha is one of the 500 children that benefit from World Vision’s Early Childhood
Care and Development (ECCD) Project in the Wilgamuwa ADP. During the sponsorship programme, the US sponsored ADP realised that many parents in the community lacked the knowledge and awareness on caring for their children in a way that would impact their development in the early years.

“We parents spend a lot of time telling our children what not to do more than supporting them to learn new things during their first years,” says Sujatha.

“The Project has taught me how to let him be a part of the activities and chores at home in a way that would benefit his growth. He shows great interest in learning and I can see his mind developing fast. I watch him draw and colour so perfectly, fix his bicycle and make balls with waste paper,” she says “Compared to his sister, Sachintha is very advanced for his age.”

While the Home-Based Project focuses mainly on the physical, emotional, psychological and language development of children from birth to five years, it also has a strong focus on the parents’ full involvement in their growth.

“The awareness and the knowledge, given to them and their involvement have amazingly transformed them. The impact on both the children and the parents is amazing,” says Sunethra, a communicator.

According to Sunethra, the biggest transformation is in the fathers who often believed the growth of the child is the sole responsibility of the mother.

“I never used to be concerned about what Sachintha did in the preschool or what my daughter had for homework. That was my wife’s responsibility,” says Sachintha’s father, “But the project has certainly made me sensitive and care for the growth of my children.”

“I never knew spending time with a little child could be so rewarding,” he says.