“Start children off on the way they should go and even when they are old they will not turn from it”
“It takes a village to raise a child.” It took her more than five years to finally understand the meaning of this simple sentence in its real and deep essence. Being a Barangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS), BNS Dagupon acknowledged that it was an opportunity to mingle and be one with her kabarangays. While doing rounds in every home, monitoring children’s weight and implementing various nutrition programs, she humbly realized that indeed, she is blessed to become an instrument of change. Therefore, she’s most willing to do all means within the limits of her capacity to always prioritize the well-being of her kabarangays, most especially the children. It is also heartwarming to say that without the helping hand of their Barangay Nutrition Committee (BNC), the success of the nutrition programs that were already started and/or being implemented would have not been possible.
One of the BNS programs that she’s particularly happy is the monitoring of underweight children. In their barangay, they are proud to say that through supporting the parents or nurturers with the careful monitoring of BNS, having underweight children in their charts is not a problem anymore! This achievement has become one of inspirations to continue improving their Barangay Nutrition Programs as it proved that success is achievable through hard work and prayers. Aside from that, she personally believed that focusing on keeping children properly nourished is a valuable contribution to the community and to the country as well.
In the process of thinking of ways on how to further improve their innovations, the programs of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) has become their guide in implementing the PPAN (Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition) especially the "PABASA sa Nutrisyon" and the Nutrition Education and Livelihood Class. The program focused on talks and information dissemination about nutrition that can easily be applied by parents and caregivers directly involved in feeding or taking care of the daily needs of their families. The good thing that came out of these nutrition programs are the simple yet effective tips from parents themselves to other parents in need of ideas or support.
The talks from PPAN also helped many lactating mothers in their area. They were surprised to see that a lot of new mothers are needing and looking for support and guide with regards to breastfeeding. Their dilemma was addressed with the help and support of the PPAN program. In return, malnutrition was combatted as many mothers were able to continue in breastfeeding their babies.
Because of the success of PPAN program, "Labay mo, Ibos mo” was born. This new innovation targets preschool children in Child Development Service Center. It is a supplementary feeding program which focuses on the consumption of whole food (no junk food, no artificial flavoring). Because of limited resources, the BNC thought of having a mini garden near the barangay hall. This is to show and inspire their kabarangays that it is possible to plant simple vegetables even in small spaces. Not only will it aid in having simple and nutritious meals at home, it also teaches children the value of hard work.
The simple idea of having a mini garden did not stop there. It evolved into mini barangay hanging garden and a mini community garden where they plant edible produce. The harvest in these innovations are the ingredients used for the feeding programs for preschool children. It is very inspiring to see the barangay council together with its constituents working together to achieve a common goal.
As time went by, they saw how nutrition can improve a person’s well-being and its effect on the community. It came to their attention that mental health also plays a big role in families and communities. Their innovations now include Saturday Counseling Sessions, focusing and close monitoring of pregnant women to make sure that their babies are healthy and thus avoid complications at birth. Hence, they are now focusing on making their nutrition programs more holistic – it is able to address physical, mental and spiritual health as well.
Her five years of experience as BNS taught her a lot of things and will continue thinking of innovations that could help their kabarangays.
(A Success Story of BNS Imelda Dagupon of Barangay Imelda Village, Baguio City)
