Reaching Children’s Potential in Tanzania: Welcome to Oresta Mgoba
Every month, Global Volunteers’ caregivers in the Ukwega Ward of Tanzania meet with families who wish to participate in the Reaching Children’s Potential (RCP) Demonstration Program. The goal of RCP is to eliminate childhood stunting in all five of the villages served: Ipalamwa, Makalanga, Lulindi, Ukwega, and Makungu. Specifically, families obtain the nutrition, health care, knowledge, technology, and encouragement needed to combat stunting, and to ensure their children can realize their full potential. We’re happy to welcome Odesta Mgoba to the RCP “family” this month.
Olesta Mgoba, age 20, was born and raised in Ukwega village. She is the mother of one daughter, Coletha, who just turned one year old. Olesta completed her education at Ukwega Primary School. She was working in Iringa as a maid when she became pregnant, and then she returned to Ukwega to live with her parents. Her family farms as their means of income.
In a brief interview with RCP Caregiver Regina Mhagama, Olesta shared more about why she decided to join the program:
Olesta, what made you decide to join the RCP Program?
I’ve heard a lot about the program from other moms, such as Jenifa and Janet, who are enrolled in it and the caregivers who I see here in my village. I’m very impressed with other moms who are in the program because their children are doing great.
What do you hope to gain by participating in the RCP program?
I hope to learn more about child growth and to increase my knowledge through workshops. Through RCP, I hope to have a place where I can share my concerns and receive support in raising my child. I have seen RCP caregivers visiting fellow mothers in my village and sharing ideas and new knowledge. I like this so much. I hope to have a healthy child and a bright future for her. If God wishes, I would like for my child to become a nurse.
About RCP’s Focus on Stunting:
Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psycho-social stimulation. Children are defined as stunted if their height-for-age is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization’s Child Growth Standards median. Global Volunteers’ RCP Program is a child-focused, parent-driven, family-centered, and community-led comprehensive effort beginning with pregnancy and continuing through the 18th birthday, focusing on the first 1,000 days of life. Ending stunting is the goal of the RCP Program in the Ukwega Ward in central Tanzania. Learn more here.
You can help Odesta and nearly 600 other RCP mothers learn how to enable their children to reach their full potential. Support Global Volunteers’ RCP Program with a monthly or one-time gift now, and join a future service program to bring important resources to families in the Ukwega Ward.
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