Nutrition Journey- a story of change

In August 2012, 18-month-old, malnourished Priya was identified as a case of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), defined as low weight for height, visible severe wasting, and swollen feet resulting from tissue retention of water.  SAM is the most extreme form of hunger that leads to 35% of preventable deaths among children under five.

photo credit: Suchit Nanda

Inadequate complementary feeding seemed to be the main cause of Priya’s poor nutrition status. Through street plays and mothers’ meetings (topics: nutrition and growth monitoring), Priya’s mother, Kamlesh, now knew what she didn’t know earlier and started to feed Priya adequate amounts of food at regular intervals. Furthermore, Priya was also enrolled in a community based crèche where she received supplementary nutrition and inculcated the habit of eating with her companions. Over a period of three months, Priya’s nutritional status improved from malnutrition grade II to I and after six months she graduated to the normal grade category.

The same old story … with a happy ending

Photo credit: Suchit Nanda

At the Vipul World construction site centre, MC staff came across 6-month-old Satish, who was lying on the mud floor while his labourer mother, Sushila worked in the sun. They struck up a conversation with Sushila, recently migrated from Rajpura village, Bihar, about her child’s wellbeing. She was skeptical at the idea of a crèche and said, “Didi bachcha chhota hai, usay doodh pilaana hota hai, thekedaar baar-baar aane nahi dega. Isliye main apne saath rakhthi hoon” (How would I feed my little baby? The contractor won’t allow me a break to nurse my baby. It’s better to keep him with me).

Mobile Creches’ staff got Sushila permission from the contractor for frequent nursing breaks and encouraged her to visit the centre, for her own assurance. Sushila was surprised to see several small children of her son’s age being taken care of in one place: eating, sleeping, playing, under a watchful eye and with loving care.

Sushila now leaves Satish at the centre, everyday and comes to feed him at regular intervals. She works, with her mind at ease.

Perseverance against Malnutrition: Sakshi's Story

Sakshi is one of the 14,500 children we reach out to, every year. Her mother, Radha sighs with relief,“Sakshi ki bahut chinta rahti thi, par ab nahi” (I use to be very worried about Sakshi, but not anymore).

6 months ago, 19-month old Sakshi living in the Khanpur slums, Delhi, weighed 7 kgs, only.

Unaware about compulsory breastfeeding for the first 6 months, Radha supplemented her breast milk with bottle-feed well before the half year mark and, failed to replace the bottle with soft frequent feeds of solids.

With guidance and support from Mobile Creches, Sakshi weighs a healthy 11 kgs today.

Sakshi’s family watched street plays and Radha attended parent meetings on goodnutritional practices. Plus the Mobile Creches team visited her every week to build her confidence and monitor Sakshi’s progress every month. Perseverance won against malnutrition.

Indian has 200 million malnourished children. Do not each of these  children deserve a chance to a better life, like Sakshi?

THE MOBILE CRECHES LOGO

The Mobile Creches Method!

We practice Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) that's practical, holistic and inclusive. The backbone of our method is:

Picture of creche from outside

Safe Space: We ask builders to donate space, materials and resources for creches. In places where public services do not work we mobilize people to work with local leadership to facilitate those services and teach women how to set up creches in their homes.

Multi Purpose Classrooms: We divide classrooms into three areas: Creche (for children 0-3), Balwadi (for children 3-5) and Non Formal Education (NFE for children 6-12). 

A Balwadi Class in progress

An NFE class in progress

• The babies in the creche are stimulated with colorful mobiles, songs, cuddling and interactive play. 
• Balwadi activity for preschoolers encourage social, cognitive and motor development through games, puppets, stories and more.
• The oldest children, in the NFE group, learn the rudiments of reading and math with a special focus on preparation for exams and transitioning to formal school.
• Alumni of Mobile Creches between 6-18 years, stay engaged through the school scholarship programme, library and hobby clubs and the street theatre groups.  

Curriculum on a Shoe-String: Because routine and repetition helps kids learn, we use a theme based hands-on learning methodology we call Prakalp whereby all activities in the centre, be it counting to storytelling, revolve around specific themes (e.g. 'Myself' or 'Rain') each quarter. What we don't have we improvise: colorful mobiles made of waste paper, painted pebbles, clay animals and cardboard cutouts. Flashcards and worksheets are often handmade by our teachers.

Rice and Pulses for lunch

Nutrition: Hungry kids can't learn. We provide nutritious meals that consist of staples such as lentils, rice, greens, milk, soya nut and sprouted grain, both enabling children to focus, and encouraging parents to practice low cost nutrition at home and contribute to supplies in the centre. We also provide prophylactic doses of vitamins A & C, iron and calcium.

A child being immunized

Systems for Hygiene, Health and Growth Monitoring: Meeting the minimum standard for hygiene is a challenge in a slum or a construction site. Systems demand that our childcare workers check children behind the ears and under the nails; wash their hands frequently; properly dispose of stools and treat drinking water. 

• We make diapers out of clean cotton scraps and leftover cuttings donated by garment factories. 
• We monitor each child's growth closely in the early years to nip malnutrition in the bud.
• Our centres become community hubs that connect health agencies to the unreached- for free check ups, immunizations and treatment through referrals.

A Community Health Camp in progress

Parent, Community and Childcare Practices: Mobile Creches services young children by empowering the community around them. We provide platforms for parents to come together and build a common understanding, in their context- on hygiene, feeding, schooling, childcare and their right to basic public services- through community meetings, one on one counselling on breastfeeding and weaning foods, issue based campaigns, street theatre, children's fairs, women's self help groups, adolescent clubs and so on.