Home is where the heart should be

"Just tell our parents to find a place in their hearts for us again." This was the reaction of a young girl from Mali when asked what the concept 'well-being' meant to her.

We get involved in many family affairs these days. In Senegal we often come across families torn apart by various causes such as intolerance, envy, lack of love and lack of attention. There are families that are not on speaking terms, and parents who hardly listen to their children or spend any time with them. Parents are letting the joys and responsibilities of parenting pass them by, and the first to lose out are their children. In family life they often experience sustained physical or psychological mistreatment such as lack of attention or affection, corporal punishment or physical violence. Society in general may suffer from these ills, but it is children that feel them most keenly.

The family home ought to be the best setting to provide children with a totally innocent and care-free upbringing - a safe place where their developing personalities can be nurtured with happiness and encouragement. What's more, children should associate the family unit with happiness, love for one another and forgiveness. But when they can no longer look to the family unit for reassurance or love, their sense of security and well-being is jeopardised. 

Fatou, Happy with her family

Four main themes for working with families

World Vision has responded to this growing threat of our age by setting up a unique pilot project called 'Celebrating families!' It is being rolled out in every country where the organisation is active, and mainly aims to equip parents with the means to transform their homes into spaces abundant in love, joy, peace and sharing. World Vision celebrates family life through four big themes:

• 'grains of goodness': it is important that family members recognise that each person has a special gift;
• 'reasons to be grateful': each family member should find things to say thanks for and praise family life;
• 'places of love and grace': family members should create a healthy environment that allows others to thrive;
• 'second chances': each member should work on their own areas for growth and make the effort to ask for forgiveness or to offer forgiveness to others.

This project has been running in Senegal since October 2016, incorporated into programmes in Fimela, Loul, Diakhao, Mbella, Kounkane, Patiana and Pakour. The idea is to give training to certain parents, who will then relay it to their communities. It's a certain response to the question put by one family man, Moussa of Kounkane: "Can you tell us how to make a good job of raising and looking after our children?"

Major changes in outlook

World Vision has worked with 24 couples who have children, and the results are already clear to see in their communities. Having taken on board new ideas about what a family is and how family members should act, many parents have taken the decision to break with practices and instead become more attentive to their spouses and children. One imam who had been through the training declared:  "From now on I'm going to spend more time with my wife, and I'm even going to take her to the market. She was always on to me about that but I would never agree, even though it means a lot to her." People in Malema, in the central region of Senegal, applauded the actions of the imam when they saw him out walking in public with his wife for the first time. The mere fact of giving more time to his wife and showing her some love is going to have a positive impact on the imam's family life and, the same goes for the children. Being a happy and a harmonious couple will always have knock-on benefits for their well-being too, as it models intimacy, sharing and joy to them. This is just one outcome of the seminar “Celebrating Families.”

Family photo after training

Mr. Badiane, one family man who took part in the seminar in Diakhao, made this observation: "I was really moved by the session on how children are affected, and from now on I will make the effort to take my kids to school or collect them from time to time, because I realise it means a lot to them."

Every day World Vision is working for the well-being of children and their communities in such ways. The project 'Celebrating Families' takes further steps to protect children against routine negligence, mistreatment, physical or psychological violence and exploitation. The change in outlook that certain parents are showing is a good indicator of the positive impact of this programme on the well-being of children.

What does the future hold?

A preliminary study of this project is currently underway. Coming up in 2017 are numerous training activities and visits to family homes so that members can encourage each other to embark on this journey. It calls on parents to create and cherish an atmosphere of attentiveness, sharing and nurture which will bring life in all its fullness to every child.

Nana with her grand mother

Odile and her aunt in perfect harmony

Photos Credits: Alexandre Gassama, Daniel Dyombo