Early moments matter in Mali
Deep within Dogon country in central Mali, a new way of parenting is changing the lives of children – and their families
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Deep within Dogon country, nestled among large rocks jutting out from the hillsides, is the village of Kendie, a full hour’s drive from the nearest big town.
Communities here mostly live off animal husbandry and agriculture, growing sorgho, millet, fonio, beans, and peanuts. But with little rain and poor harvests last year, food insecurity is a growing problem.
But despite the challenges they face, communities agree on one thing: the importance of ensuring the wellbeing of their children, starting at the earliest age.
“I had my first child when I was only 16,” remembers Bourele Seyba, 26. Back then, she didn’t know much about positive parenting practices. These days, she is the proud mother of three children and knows all about taking care of young children.
Like the other mothers of Kendie, Bourele attended village-wide parental education assemblies, where with the help of visual aids, mothers and fathers are taught about positive parenting practices, such as exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, parental communication and affection, the importance of early learning, play and proper health and hygiene. Parents are also taught how to make traditional toys out of local materials such as clay.
It’s knowledge that she is spreading around her, too.
“I speak to other women about caring practices when we go fetch water together and when we share meals,” she explains. “All the women that follow the new practices have children who are in better health now.”
While she admits she used to punish her first child, Adama, now 10, little Yatè, 3, and baby Amadou, 4 months, are experiencing a different type childhood. Yatè attends the local community-based preschool, while baby Amadou radiates good health and is happiest when he gets to play with his father, mother and sister.
“Amadou loves games!” says Bourele. “Yatè plays with him. Even if he’s crying, he’ll stop when the game starts! The kids just use pebbles or clay and they invent games on their own. My older girl never did that.”
The project has changed the way parenting is done in Kendie. Many of the positive parenting practices Bourele and other mothers have learned were unknown to them before the lessons
"All the women that follow the new practices have children who are in better health now"
“I learned about exclusive breastfeeding for first six months for the first time,” says Bourele. “It’s a new habit because before, right after birth, we would bathe children and then give them water to drink. We would also throw away the first milk, because we believed it wasn’t good for children.”
The result is that baby Amadou is in now great health, with round cheeks and eyes gleaming with curiosity. Later on, she says, Amadou will also attend the community-based preschool that his sister Yatè goes to.
Five days a week, Bourele brings little Yatè to one of the two community-based preschools in Kendie. Housed in a simple mud structure with a roof of metal sheeting, Kendie 1 preschool opened in November 2016 and currently welcomes 46 children, most of which are girls, thanks to the support of H&M Foundation through UNICEF Sweden and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the NGO GAAS-Mali.
There, she is learning to count, to recite things, and to sing songs. She particularly loves using building blocks and playing with a small drum.
Anta Tembine, 23, has been the center’s facilitator since it opened. Chosen for her listening skills, level of education and ability to manage large groups of children, she went through one week of training in her first year and then another in her second. In French, she is known as a mère éducatrice, a mother who educates.
“Parents like having the children here,” she confirms. “Their kids become more independent quicker. The parents also feel reassured because they know their children are in safety, not somewhere in the village where they might hurt themselves on the rocks.”
“The entire village is very happy with the centers,” agrees village chief Oumar Balam, 75. “The kids are brighter, they do better in school and the parents feel reassured that their kids are in good hands.”
Kendie village is lucky to have two community-based preschools: in Mali, it is estimated that only 4% of children have access to any form of early learning. And yet, early learning is one of the best ways to ensure children arrive at primary school ready to learn and to do well in school.
“By the time they leave the preschool, they know the alphabet and have a few notions of French,” explains Anta.
The existence of the community-based preschool sin Kendie have already had a huge impact on primary school enrolment. The list of children of the preschool is used for primary school enrollment: out of 92 children now attending primary school in Kendie, 58 of them came from the community-based preschool. And those children are already curious and ready to learn new things.
With the support of H&M Foundation and UNICEF Sweden, UNICEF Mali is supporting the access of 15,000 children aged 3 to 6 to early learning in Mali, as well as the training of 18,000 parents and caregivers on positive parenting practices.
