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Thursday, 10 November 2011

Nursery keeps children safe, allows mothers to work

Rwanda is the first and only country in the world where women are in the majority in parliament. Women are leading the social and economic recovery from genocide through co-operatives and self-educating groups like Aspire, Network for Africa’s yearlong educational and training program. Yet lack of infrastructure limits development. For example, the genocide removed a generation of grandmothers and aunts who minded children while mothers worked. Without these familiar social networks, mothers often have no choice but to leave children at home while they go to work.  The children rarely eat until their mothers return.  Older daughters may be forced to stay home from school to watch their younger siblings, meaning that they fall behind in their schoolwork and may even have to drop out of school.  Even worse, predators are aware of children left home without supervision.  We were recently horrified to learn that a 6 year old girl, left alone during the day while her mother worked, was raped in her own home in a local neighborhood.

Aspire women do have an advantage in being able to bring their young children with them to lessons and training.  However, problems arise when toddlers are present, distracting their mothers from learning and working, while at the same time worrying the mothers that their children aren’t receiving the attention they need – a concern that working mothers all over the world can identify with.

A woman enrolled in Aspire, with her son
N4A is tackling this problem by building a workplace nursery and preschool.  At the Aspire nursery, younger children will be safe and provided with two nutritionally balanced meals a day, and will be given a step-up in life by enhancing their cognitive and social development.  In turn, mothers will be able to work uninterrupted, earning the funds necessary to feed and educate their children, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.  After the mothers graduate from the Aspire program and are making money in cooperatives, they can keep their children in the nursery for a reasonable fee, which will help the program be self-sustaining.

Construction of the nursery is currently underway on the Aspire campus.  





Catherine, a British volunteer who has served as the head teacher of a nursery school for over ten years, will be coming to Rwanda in Spring 2012 to train assistants; Aspire will hire a qualified Rwandan teacher who will work with Catherine in the training and will take over the school when she leaves.  Assistants will be chosen from young mothers who are enrolled in Aspire, who are taking English classes and show an interest in working with children.  The training they will have to complete will also make them qualified to gain employment at other nurseries in Rwanda in the future.  Additionally, Catherine will begin twice-weekly meetings to talk with the Aspire women about parenting skills.  Many of the Aspire women, themselves orphaned or widowed during the genocide, have expressed a desire for parenting classes, covering topics like nutrition and discipline alternatives to corporal punishment in the home.

$25 (£16) could pay for one month of nursery/preschool for a child.  This includes two meals a day, five days a week.  If you would like to donate, visit Network for Africa at http://network4africa.org/give.

                     
Women enrolled in Aspire, with their children



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