Have you thought about how often something has a ripple effect on something else?  If it is empowering and positive it can be amazing to follow, if only from a distance.

Give a Child a Family Africa (GCF) has been running the updated parenting skills programme, Parenting 4 Life, since the end of last year, and its 12-week course has come to an end now. Stories from real life have been told by our community workers, who have seen parents grow and gain confidence in their parenting from week to week. Oftentimes, the participants have returned with questions and new experiences after trying what they learned at home.

One mother, in one of the groups, had concerns about her child’s access to education. She had asked around but no one had given the relevant information that could assist her in finding a suitable school for her 6-year-old with Downs Syndrome. Learning that every child, no matter who they are, has the same rights, as well as emotional and social needs, made her more confident and she asked GCF for advice in the situation. We don’t always have the answers, but have contacts and could give her a phone number to a local organisation that works with education and children with special needs. They do not work in the specific area where the woman and her child live but were happy to talk and give contact details to a school. Connections were done and the girl was welcome to start. The mother met another concerned mother who had the exact same worries for her child. Information was given and the two children are today schooling in the same place.

How easy wasn’t that? A question got an answer and children’s lives changed. We can all make a difference and it does not have to be difficult at all.

GCF works to ensure the provision of services and effective support to families needed to provide nurturing care so that children will not only survive but be protected and develop to their full potential. This is very much considered in the Parenting 4 Life programme, which aim is as mentioned before, to build the confidence, knowledge and also skills of parents to support their children’s development and well-being. Twelve topics are taught and are about things like; positive parenting, child development, children with special needs – extra parenting demands, how to deal with challenging behaviour, family finances, children with trauma and parenting and mental health.

Email us if you are interested in finding out more, at info@gcf.org.za. If you would like to contribute to that more people will be equipped in their parenting, you can donate a once-off payment, become a monthly giver or start a fundraising drive, go here: www.gcf.org.za/donate/.