Stories

Lia Araújo, Facilitator Therapist

“The chance to participate in Juntos has transformed me!  Being a facilitator is not easy! You need to be available to “care”: to provide what each family needs, to take into consideration their knowledge and enable them to rethink their practices, their truths, to admit that, in certain aspects, we are not specialists.  To share the facilitator space with a mother enabled me to get closer to a reality that I had only experienced from a distance.  Hearing from other carers and sharing so much knowledge, which only they have, was transforming.  Today, my senses are much more attentive to each child’s, each family’s, story.  And these stories have acted on me and changed me, both personally and professionally.”

Lia Araújo, facilitator therapist (Salvador, Brazil)

“A striking point was when we practiced together with ourselves, to feel what it was like being fed with speed and intensity. I now see the difficulty that my granddaughter has in swallowing food. Children cannot swallow at the speed that we think they can swallow; if it is difficult for us, imagine how it is for a child…” (Grandmother, Brazil)

“Sharing information with others has reduced stigma because when we share, others stop talking about us and thinking that we messed around and that is why we ended up with such babies. This has improved how we interact with others and many people around us are aware.” (Mother, Uganda)

“If you place a typical child in sitting, she stays. If I leave my son, he falls and nowadays my family are very nervous of this. So I shared information with them from our group, about how to position him, how to use a towel roll, or a little pillow. Now my son can sit without falling.” (Mother, Brazil)