Making The Evening of Life One of Dignity and Happiness

We conducted a community meeting in the Muslim community of Pakiyawathai, which is one of the GN divisions in Pottuvil. Nearly 37 mothers participated in this meeting. Our donors from Australia and New Zealand, Country Director, Program Director, Health department and Hearth staff were present that meeting. We began the meeting by explaining our project and we then we asked for the opinions and experiences. The mothers discussed the following matters: 1. They feed their children but many children dislike to eat healthy food. 2. The prices children’s food and milk packets have increased 3. Availability of some foods are very low 4. Disease 5. Lack of breast milk among the lactating mothers. 6. Lack of sea food due to the defense rules and regulations that prevent fisherman from fishing

Then slowly an old grandmother rose to her feet. The animated crowd seated cross legged on gound mats slowly quieted and turned their heads up to see what she wanted to say. She began to speak, growing louder and gesturing more strongly as she proceeded. This is thewhat she shared to the group:

When she was a lactating mother many years ago, she said, she fed only breast milk to her child and she had enough breast milk for the whole period. She didn’t feed any artificial food to her child. She fed local foods to her child and they grew very well without diseases. She is wondering about mothers today who have children in this time. Most of the mothers do not provide enough breast milk to their child, she said. They buy artificial food from the shop and feed to their children, because this is the easy way to them. It is very rare for them to use local foods. So the children get diseases faster and their nutrition level is also very poor. She mentioned the reason of the malnourished is defiantly careless of the mothers.

After that the mothers group stopped listing complaints. One mother shared how she cooked special recipes that helped disguise vegetables so that her children would eat them. And soon others started to share some of their successful techniques. It was a powerful demonstration of how the experience of a respected person could change the dynamics and thoughts of a whole group. Thank-you very much grandma. We look forward to working with you and many others like you.