A mother's dream comes true

Miranda is a woman who has benefited from becoming a volunteer in Plan's home-based child care programme. More importantly, she has seen the positive impact on her children and their friends in her village in East Timor.

Miranda's home village of Liurai is one of ten in Aileu District where Plan is piloting neighbourhood playgroups for children under six. The village has around 700 children in this age group, 40% of whom are malnourished.

Without access to playgroups, children are often left on their own or in the care of older siblings. Parents, busy working to provide for the family, can seldom spare time for play or interaction with their children.

Of her life before becoming a Play Facilitator, Miranda says: "I was a widow with four young children to care for by myself. Everyday I had constant worries about how to feed my children and raise them decently.

"I rose and slept with thoughts of pots and pans, the heap of dirty clothes that needed washing and mending, what to cook and where to look for food, the firewood that needed to be gathered and the many other tasks that weighed upon me in most of my waking moments.

"I ceased to dream beyond the four walls of my house and my world spanned the width of my small farm. I stopped believing, long ago, that I could be more."

After a three-part training course on child development, curriculum planning and developing play-based activities, Miranda, along with four others in her village, began to plan and conduct play sessions.

"It all began when Plan came to our village and talked about health and stimulation for our children. The main messages struck home. I felt guilty that, as a parent, I had lots of practices that were not helpful to the well-being of my children. I got so excited by this new knowledge and began to attend training related to child development that Plan conducted," Miranda says.

Sessions are held three times a week and run for two to three hours. As well as caring for their own young children, the facilitators are able to use their training to provide good quality play and interaction for other children in the neighbourhood.

She says, "Playing with children has helped me rediscover the child in me again. Their sense of humour never fails to lift my spirit and take my mind off the worries of my life. Children teach me about life. Playing with them has provided me with new meaning."

"I have rediscovered a dream. There has always been a lurking longing in me to be a teacher, all these years. I might not be able to attend school and earn a formal degree now but in working with children, I feel that dream realised. For me, it is a dream that took wings, at last!"