VUSUMNOTFO - Parenting for a Sustainable Future

The Problem - Eswatini has a high prevalence of high blood pressure, affecting 43% to 47% of adults, with higher rates among females.

The rate of diabetes in the adult population is 7.9% with many more people not knowing they are in the prediabetes stage.

As these are “family cooking pot” issues, it follows that youth obesity is a rapidly growing, critical health issue, driven by a "nutrition transition" from traditional foods to processed diets and low physical activity, placing children at risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

The Solution - Eswatini is gifted with a year round growing season. Literally “things just grow” i.e. mango pits thrown out will start sprouting.

Because nutrition is key to health and health is key to family and community development, across all our activities we:

1. Raise awareness on chronic diseases linked to eating habits.
2. Train in water wise gardening practices (including promotion of indigenous foods).
3. Demonstrate healthy eating from the garden (including the use of herbs to reduce sugar & salt).
4. Provide information and plant propagation material to get people started at home.

Your continued support helps us motivate people to see that the solution is within their reach.

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2.  Livelihood Training Programme - to improve financial and nutrition practices at family level:

Activity 2.2. Perma-gardening for nutrition - 1/train in perma-gardening practices for nutrition, ii) provide information and plant propogation material 

Activity 2.3. - Demonstrate - the use of permaculture practices throughout Vusumnotfo operations to promote sustainable living 

My name is Lungile Mrs Vilane. Thank you Vusumnotfo for the books you have given us for our children. I have seen that these books are a great help to our children. In the evenings when we are sitting my children fight a lot. Now that we have the books when they start fighting I just tell them to get the books, sit down and read them. The books help them because now they speak English to each other. It was my second time getting the books. When I came with the second set they all fought over it. The books have even helped to open up their minds even at school. Thank you for the books.

My name is Nkosingiphile Kunene. The books have helped me have a better relationship with my children. My children have started opening about what happens in their lives and I can see that this was caused by us sitting down and reading these books together. Even if there is a problem, I will be able to quickly see it”.

My name is Nonhlanhla Shongwe. I am from Magengeni. I am learning at Vusumnotfo and I am learning a lot. Thank you Vusumnotfo for the books. The books help the children. I have a grandchild who is 3 years old. When I’m busy I don’t need to worry about her, she just takes her books and sits down and looks at the pictures. Sometimes we sit down and look at the pictures and I ask her ‘who is this’? and then she will give the people in the book names and with some stories she will give that person her name. The books give her something to do and I don’t stress anymore. Even though she doesn’t know how to read she looks at the pictures in the story and she will tell me a story. It creates time for us to spend time and I also read to her.

My name is Ntombizile Mabuza. The books have helped me a lot with my children. Now you never hear them saying they are bored. Now every time they feel they are bored they take the books and read them and they also read to each other. Sometimes I also ask them to give me a summary on the book they read. They are children that love reading now. The books have not only helped them at home but also at school as some books are in English. The books don’t have big words, which makes it easy for them to read. When reading is made easier and interesting for a child, it makes the child want to read more. Thank you Vusumnotfo for the books.

My name is Senele Dlamini. The books we received from Vusumnotfo have really helped me. I have a child who is in grade 4 and she was not doing well with the English subject at school. I have been able to teach her using the books. We look at the pictures then we name everything we see first in siSwati then in English. Some books are the same, I first read to her the siSwati book then the English book, this makes it easier for her to learn English. I didn’t know where to start with teaching her English but this has made my job much easier.

My name is Thandi Dlamini.  The bookdash books have helped me a lot. My grandchild takes the books and looks at the pictures and she tells me what is happening in the story. My grandchild and I have bonded so much because it gives us time together and it is something I always look forward to especially when she tells me the story. Yesterday she told me that her uncles asked her where is her ‘My trip to the tap book’? This made me notice that this has created a relationship between her and her uncles. They enjoy reading to her and they also enjoy it when she tells them the story because she does not know how to read yet but she looks at the pictures and tells them the story.

Your donations help us provide the training that supports these amazing testimonies 

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Testimonies were collected from community participants who we gave BookDash sets to through our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene activities. Stories were recorded in siSwati before transcribed into English. 

Note:

We intentionally collected from participants other than community preschool teachers, as we wanted to capture the impact of the books at family level.

We sort into sets that include 1/Wordless, 2/siSwati, and 3/English - with at least one siSwati and English book being the same title - as this allows parents to appreciate that we learn best from “our known to our unknown” - specific to each person’s situation.  Each set has13 books.

This also breaks down the common miss conception that reading “is for people with white skin”.  We promote the Wordless books as an extension of African story telling - the goal being for children to start to recognize their real life observations and experiences in print.

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Vusumnotfo Activity 1.3. Provide access - to bilingual storybooks, to support reading to children at family and preschool level.