My Wonderful Mum: Children's Book from Vietnam

All children want to say these words about their mothers. Every parent would like to hear these words from their child. And this happens, for parents and children, disabled and not.

What is much less likely, however, is for the rest of the world to see or hear these words about disability. And that is exactly what happened in Vietnam in late 2004.

Early childhood development training

It was part of Early Childhood Development Training in the city of Hue in the center of Vietnam. Participants included representatives from the Health, Education, Water and Sanitation, Child Protection and Media Sectors as well as the well-respected Vietnamese Women's Union. Representatives of disability organizations were included as well as individual "talent" such as photographers, illustrators, poets and musicians. After receiving training in some of the latest research in the field of early child development, participants viewed media from several countries around the world for and about infants and young children. They analyzed these and discussed if and how they could be adapted to a Vietnamese context.

Included in these media examples were numerous presentations of children and adults with disabilities. Sometimes they were the focus of a story, sometimes they were not. Sometimes they needed help, sometimes they helped others. Sometimes we knew they were disabled, sometimes we did not.

Research into support of caregivers

Another very important topic of discussion was the importance of raising the self-confidence of caregivers of young children - and the impact that has on their relationship with their child. The most recent research in the field of early child development continues to confirm that the support given to the caregivers who are in greatest need - the poorest, the minority groups, caregivers with disability - can have the greatest impact. This means that programs and media need to include and empower all caregivers, focus on their strengths, and give confidence as well as nurture competence.

Collaboration

Participants were then divided into groups and asked to develop "prototype" indigenous media - either radio or television spots - or children's books. This was a new activity for the participants in many ways. In nearly all instances, most "sectors" worked alone. And, in nearly all instances, the media and creative people were briefed about an assignment and then they too, worked alone. But, here and now, they were being asked to plan, create and produce together. Was it possible? They also had to work with non-actors. They were asked to find real people, those who were the most disadvantaged, not to use "make-up," to use colloquial speech and to be as simple and creative as possible. It was a first and everyone was just a bit anxious.

Depictions

The book group was asked to use photographs and to depict care and nurturing between and parent and young child. They had to identify a caregiver and demonstrate ways that she/he cared for the child throughout the routine of the day in a loving and responsive way - even if they were very poor or disadvantaged in any way. They were asked to try to find a disabled parent, but everyone knew that in the short time, it might be difficult to get someone to agree to this in a community where disability was not often, if ever, in the media.

Transitions

The photographer who worked with this group had worked with the Early Childhood UNICEF Project over the past two years. He changed remarkably - from someone who took a "beautiful photo" - to someone who captured the magic of the care between the child and caregiver and could make the person looking at the photo say to themselves "I want to do that with MY child."

The day of the presentations, there was palpable excitement in the air. Each group created something new and quite wonderful for Vietnam. Coming to Hue, we knew we did not have the support systems in place that we would have in Hanoi, the capital. It was more difficult in every respect.

Results

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