Sedla Village Child Care Centre
Posted: 05/17/2010
40-50 families from Sedla village go to the desert and undertake salt farming work on the salt pans. These families do not have a house to live in the village nor do they have land to undertake agricultural activities. these families therefore have to migrate to the desert to work on the salt pans for a period of 8 months in a year.
25-30 families who migrate to the desert have about 25-30 children in the age group of 0 to 5 years. These children go to the salt pans with their parents. There is no physical or mental development of these children in the desert. SEWA felt the need to have a child care center in the desert to ensure proper care and development of these children. As a result of the support to this child care center, the families in Sedla village were very happy. They cannot leave their kids at home in the village. When they take these children to the desert, they have to move around in the scorching heat with their parents and nothing to learn.
With the support of these funds, a childcare center was operated for a period of 7 months in the desert. As a result these children were not only protected from the scorching heat in the desert but also got nutritious food which resulted in proper physical growth and good health of these children.
Some of the concrete examples of the children who benefited are
Bhartiben Manabhai and Sandipbhai Dekabhai were both 3 years of age. However, both these children did not learn to walk till this age. After coming to the child care center, they learnt to walk.
Renukaben Prahladbhai would not eat anything but just drink milk. After joining the child care center, she also leant to eat all different types of food. When she joined the child care center, her weight was 7 kg and it increased to 11 kg.
All this also helps in bringing an awareness among the parents about proper upbringing of their children.
