Zar Zar lives in Aungmyaythazan Township in Myanmar with her husband and two children: 11-year-old Paing Soe, and her daughter, four-year-old Myat Mon. Zar Zar’s husband makes a living buying and selling betel nuts and betel leaves, while she does the housework and cares for their two children. 

Both husband and wife had no opportunities for education when they were younger, so they encouraged their children to become well-educated people. Paing Soe is in school and is moving on to the seventh grade, but when they tried to send their daughter to an Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Centre, there was a big problem.

“My younger daughter was very unhealthy and couldn’t speak clearly. So, she could only attend an ECCD Centre when she turned four. Before joining the Centre she was scared of strangers and hid behind me when she saw people. In the early days, I worried about her and watched her every day.”

At the Centre, World Vision helped provide nutritious food to the children and spoke about nutrition awareness with their parents. “At the Centre, my daughter began eating different kinds of foods; she even shared it with other children.”

Beyond giving Myat Mon healthy food at the ECCD Centre, World Vision is also helping her to grow up healthily through timely health and nutrition interventions. “The health of my daughter is improving, and through the Growth Monitoring Programme we can watch her progress by measuring her weight and height every three months. Now I know the nutritional status of my daughter in a timely manner and I know how to feed my children nutritious meals.”

Myat Mon has attended the ECCD Centre for nine months, and the difference in her is night and day. Says her grateful mother: “Thanks to the care of the ECCD caregivers, she can now say a lot of words and talk about the snacks she eats at the Centre. She is even able to sing and recite poems without being afraid of people. She seems happier and healthier now. 

“I would like to express my thanks to those who taught us about nutrition and how to feed our children nutritious food, as well as the donors who provided food and the ECCD teachers who are taking care of my daughter.”