An early childhood development project is making sure that children from poor families grow up bright and healthy.
Cebu City - Fifty-three-year-old Saludita Buton, or Lola Salud, has 10 children and 8 grandchildren of her own. But, over the last 5 years, she has spent her days babysitting up to five other toddlers and operating a volunteer day-care center for children of poor working mothers. She does this in a space less than 20 square meters in area adjacent to her home in Barangay Catadman in Catmon, Cebu.
Lola Salud is one of the field workers of the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) Early Childhood Development (ECD) project, who were honored for their exemplary performance and dedication to work. While not rich, these field workers practically volunteer to care for other people's children.
For example, 62-year-old Rosalinda Densing, or Tita Daya as she is fondly called, receives P1,000 (about $25) per month as a day-care worker in Barangay Flores in Catmon, looking after up to 80 children daily, ranging from 3 to 5 years of age. When asked if that was enough, she smiled and answered, "I just let it be enough."
At the awarding ceremony in 2006, DSWD Undersecretary Luwalhati Pablo noted that these workers were recognized for their responsiveness, innovativeness, effectiveness, and sustainability in implementing their respective programs and by how well they utilized their facilities.
"Both national and regional officials focused on identifying and selecting the most inspiring efforts among all the ECD project achievements," she stressed.
DSWD was the lead agency implemen-ting the ECD project, funded by ADB and the World Bank, with the Philippines' Department of Health and Department of Education. Since 2000, about 3 million children have been served by the project through its various service delivery packages, such as for rural health midwives, day-care workers, and child development workers. It reached 1,522 barangays (towns) in 132 municipalities in 13 provinces where half of the Philippines' most disadvantaged and vulnerable children are located.
The project also constructed or renovated barangay health stations, day-care centers, and mothers' homes. It upgraded existing facilities and significantly improved services. From dilapidated huts with rainwater from the roofs dripping on the children, the centers are now made of concrete and with sturdy roofs. Almost 250 barangay health stations and 933 day-care centers were constructed, while almost 500 barangay health stations and almost 1,000 day-care centers were either repaired or upgraded.
The project provided integrated services in health, nutrition, psychosocial development, and early education for disadvantaged children up to 6 years old. These early years are considered as the most critical to child development, when the physical, mental, social, and emotional facilities of the child are being formed, and the child requires proper nutrition, health care, mental and psychomotor stimulation, emotional nurturing, social acceptance, and support. Otherwise, irreversible damages may occur and the child may not function properly as an adult. The lack of iodine, for example, can cause cretinism, a condition marked by severely stunted physical and mental growth.
Second Mothers
To care for the children under her wing, Lola Salud sings and dances for them, reads books, gives them milk to drink-practically everything that any mother should do. She does not get paid or receive any salary; instead, she just receives fish, or rice, or small monetary donations. "She just likes to take care of children," Catmon Mayor Estrella Aribal said proudly of Lola Salud, who was a long-time barangay health worker. Lola Salud's day-care home, which was constructed with funding from the ECD project, has toys, a baby crib, a blackboard, children's books, and a cassette player and tapes.
"Those who are rich can afford maids. Those who are poor and have to work can leave their children here with me. But those without work cannot leave their children here," Lola Salud said, even if the child is her own grandchild. "This is my service to my fellow man. I just want to take care of children," she said, and added that she will do so until her last breath.
Tita Daya, who has been a day-care worker for 10 years, said, "I just want to help, no matter what the honorarium." She herself has eight children, aged 22 to 39, and 13 grandchildren, one of whom goes to her afternoon day- care session, where children learn arts and crafts, are taught good manners and proper behavior, and engage in outdoor and indoor activities.
Maricel Dicdiquin, 25, conducted fieldwork as a mobile child development worker up to her ninth month of pregnancy, sometimes walking for hours just to reach parents in remote Balindog, Kidapawan City and teach them about proper child care. Because of the "exercise" she got from hours of walking to reach her target families, she said she did not have a hard time giving birth. "There's no tricycle there and even if you ride the tricycle, you have to pay the fare back and forth. So you just leave early so you can reach your destination," she said. For her efforts, she receives a P1,500 (about $38) monthly honorarium from the local government and barangay.
It's a job she has to do, she said. "They depend on me. If I am scheduled to go there, I have to go there because they are waiting for me. They appreciate the stories, the toys, and the materials that I bring because they have not seen those before. I pity them because, I wonder, who will do this for them when I leave?" she said, referring to the warm welcome she always receives in remote areas.
Committed to Helping Others
Erlinda Lagunsad, a 45-year-old midwife, received the best service provider award. She gives primary health services, such as immunization, maternal health care, and a feeding program for kids in Barangay Mateo, Kidapawan City. The ECD project provided her the materials and supplies.
"I probably won because of the cooperation of the people. I did not know I won because I do this daily on my own. This is my routine," she said. She knows the job has many challenges and problems but only had reassuring words for her peers, "We should accept all the challenges and we should be willing to work hard."
Her husband, Anacleto, is proud of her being named best midwife for, according to him, she is the "best wife" too. "By supporting her, it's just like saying I am supporting the people because I also happen to be a public servant," he said. He has been a government worker for more than 30 years. "People here in the barangay are very lucky to have a midwife like her who could be on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can always call her," he testified. The couple taught their own children to help people in whatever way they can, so it was no surprise that their youngest child chose to become a nurse.
The local government of Catmon, Cebu was twice awarded for its strong commitment to the project due to the strong commitment of Mayor Aribal, herself a former teacher. "I saw that this project can help the people of Catmon a lot, especially the poor children in the farms," the mayor said.
"Before the program started, when we were still a fifth-class municipality, we really had a major malnutrition problem. So ECD was really able to help. And our service providers were really devoted to their job. Even if the farms were far, they would go. And the farms here are in steep hills, without roads, and in really difficult conditions," she said. Now, access is easier after the local government constructed roads in practically every barangay in Catmon.
Brighter, Better Developed Children
The ECD team in Kidapawan City also received a DSWD award. They attribute their success to good teamwork, regular interagency meetings, and consultations. The fact that all of them in the team are mothers also helped. "I am very grateful for their cooperation," said Erlinda Solis Doblas, the city's social welfare and development officer and ECD action officer. "I am also inspired seeing them cooperate because our vision for our children here in Kidapawan is common. We want our children to be totally developed," Ms. Doblas said. "We want them to be competitive in any field."
Through the project, expectant mothers are now aware of the benefits of prenatal care. "In our time, we were not. Things are different now. Now we say, why do we only now have ECD? We wish it were here earlier so that our own children could be even brighter," Ms. Doblas joked.
Enriqueta Prudente, who represents the Department of Education in the team, pointed out the positive influence the project has on the children's school performance. "They perform better and can already socialize because of the training they got from ECD workers," she said.
The project provides the centers with vitamins and medicines, usually for upper respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis, and diarrhea, which are the top illnesses in the area, according to Dr. Jocelyn Encilenzo, the city health officer.
Marilene Capilitan, city nutrition officer, noticed that the children who go to feeding sessions prefer natural food over nutripacks, the taste of which they easily get tired of. Mothers also bring in whatever vegetables they have in their backyard to augment the food provided at the supplemental feeding for the malnourished.
To motivate mothers to have their children immunized, they are given free grocery items and a certificate that shows the child has been fully immunized. The city boasts of a 99% fully-immunized-children rate.
Making Parents More Effective
An important component of the project was the Parents' Effectiveness Service (PES). Over 100,000 parents and other caregivers were taught about laws on the rights of the child, responsible parenthood, responsibilities on ECD behavior, management of younger and older children, issues in husband-wife relationships, prevention of child abuse, and health care and parenting issues. More than 8,600 service providers, such as day-care workers and midwives, have also been trained.
In Balindog, barangay officials passed an ordinance stipulating that at least one parent in each family has to attend all nine modules of the seminar before a barangay clearance can be issued. Over 90% of the households have already attended the seminar, with only about 100 households left.
Mobile child development worker Dicdiquin laments the lack of awareness among poor rural folk on parental responsibilities. "Some just give birth and give birth. Even if the midwife or the barangay health worker advises them to go on family planning, they are stubborn and do not listen. But when PES was implemented, they were taught that they have a responsibility to their children, not just to themselves," she says.
"It's okay for people have children as long as they can feed and educate them. But those who can't might resort to child labor because they need money for their family," she warned.
