What are our Children?
”Children are not things to be molded but are people to be unfolded.” – Jess Lair
Introduction
The ECD Nairobi program has been a part of our Jamati program since 2011. The program has been evolving due to the needs of the jamat and the increase in Jamati families. The program is designed to meet the various areas of learning through the developmental stages of the young. Our program starts from pre-natal whereby we try to support the parents at that early stage. The family is then introduced to the program from the time of 3 – 36 months
The ECD Nairobi Program
The families and care-givers enter the program with their infants. The monthly sessions invite parents to meet with their designated, age-appropriate coach ... who discusses, supports, correlates activities that support the development of the child and will also support families by enhancing the upbringing of their child at home. The developmental stages that the program supports are through language, social and emotional, cognitive, fine and gross motor skills. This monthly interaction also allows families to interact with each other in an informal setting, allowing for them to make connections with each other. The coaches (or Ed Reps as we call them) are given 50-60 hours training in the Science of ECD, areas of play, nutrition and other relevant topics to support the program.
During the course of the year, there are other big and small events that take place. The other events we have: Reading and Play Festival which facilitates the children of our Jamat up-to 8 years. We also have other informative and/or interactive sessions that support families in learning, socially and physically. In the past, we have had yoga sessions, dancing, reading together, social and emotional learning, and health topics.
Recently, we have enhanced the curriculum with Religious integration into the ECD secular program, putting together a holistic platform that combines, fun interaction, theme based ideas, that promote, play, values, learning through religious readings, prayers, and also yoga to promote mental, physical and emotional balance within the program.
The Beginning of A Virtual ECD:
The beginning of the new beginning started in March when our Navroz Festival was cancelled due to the COVID. Since then, ECD has started creating a virtual space for our families. We are new and trying to insight into this new space. For all of us, this is the beginning of a new journey
