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Monday, May 16, 2005
20 Cebu towns get P300T in toys, help for kids under 6
By LOVEY LADY VILLANUEVA
Sun.Star Correspondent
FIVE-YEAR-OLD William digs into his champorado, unmindful of the noise around him. Plates are filled to the brim. Other children line up for their share. The kids look like they have it all going for them.
But William can’t sit up. He can even barely move his legs.
The other children, despite their smiles, are no more fortunate. They come from families too poor to even buy cocoa for champorado.
This scene greets a visitor to the Early Child Development (ECD) Project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
William, together with his mother Dominga, is among the hundreds of beneficiaries of the health program of DSWD.
Funded by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, in coordination with the National Government and local government units, ECD was put up to monitor a child’s development during infancy up to six years old, the best time to build the child’s foundation.
Teresa Co, ECD project development officer, said the full implementation of the program started last year.
Region 7 has 72 ECD areas, with 20 towns in Cebu alone. Since the program started, Alcoy and Dalaguete towns in the south have been the most effective.
Each municipality has been given P300,000 worth of toys, and another amount for facilities, equipment and medicines needed for the health and psychosocial development of mothers and children.
Poverty has taken its toll on William. He doesn’t enjoy a normal childhood. His bones have not developed since he was five months.
Among six siblings, William is the only one stricken with the illness. He is the fifth child.
His mother makes it a point to bring her children with her to attend lectures, training and the occasional feeding program by ECD.
William’s father is a fisherman struggling to make ends meet.
ECD aims to help families to understand the importance of eating the right food in a child’s development. It focuses on the health and psychosocial development of the child.
Development of a child’s health starts even before birth. So, mothers are taught to prepare the right food, even on a limited budget. They are taught that proper nutrition can start in the backyard if this is planted to fruits and vegetables.
Their children, meanwhile, are given educational toys for their psychosocial development.
Florencia Dueñas, 28, one of the mothers regularly attending ECD lectures in Alcoy, said they have noticed a change in their children’s appetite.
After feeding her children the right food, they have gained weight and do not easily get hungry, unlike before.
Prima Plando, a child development worker, keeps a checklist for every child to monitor progress.
Plando noticed that the children’s comprehension skills greatly improved since the start of the project. Children can now easily understand instructions and are now very attentive.
With the ECD program and DSWD, the poor children have a better chance of enjoying a healthy future. |
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