Reaching Children’s Potential in Tanzania: Welcome to Jamila Makilika

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 Jamila Makilika to the RCP “family” this month.

Jamila Makilika became a mother on December 2, 2020 to a beautiful baby girl named Jackline Kikoti. Jamila is from Mkalanga village and studied primary school there. She also recently attended a sewing course to become a seamstress. After completing the course, she decided to move back in with her parents.

Why did you join the RCP program, Jamila?

I joined the RCP Program after my baby girl was born because I need to become a good mom so I can raise my child well. I hope to learn a lot about how to care for my first child. I don’t know much about child growth and I hope the RCP Program will teach me and help me develop new skills.

What is your source of income?

I don’t have any source of income. We just depend on agriculture and sometimes my fiancée supports me. I hope I can become a good seamstress and earn money.

What have you heard about the RCP Program?

My mother is enrolled in the RCP Program and has talked to me about what she has learned in the workshops. My friends Agreva and Martha are also members. I see that my mother is doing well and that she has learned a lot from RCP. My mother taught me how to use the hand-washing station and the importance of washing hands with clean water and soap.

What are your hopes in participating in the RCP program, Jamila?

I hope to become a good mom and have a healthy baby. Perhaps I can be an example to the other moms.

What are your most important cultural values taught by your ancestors?

One of our most important cultural values is to respect elders and other people in our society. We must obey our parents; if not, it will lead to problems. Many of the cultural values that we inherited from our ancestors have been abolished due to religion.

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 Jamila 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.

To learn about the RCP Program and families in the Ukwega Ward, choose from the program blog archive here.