Dear Friends,

I am just bubbling over with joy, pride, love… this comes from learning that via HHI’s partnership with Medical Teams, there are now 300 new HHI villages trainers in the war-torn area in northern Uganda. In just the next 6 weeks, they will lead trainings for parents in 145 villages – meaning before Christmas or Hanukkah, HHI will contribute to the healing of about 3,800 parents, and almost 10,000 young children!!!! (beyond the 6,000+ women and 36,000 children we’ve already touched).

This is the power of HHI’s model — we teach and support other groups to apply HHI within their own programs, in their own communities where the healing is most needed, and in this way our reach is exponential!

Please help me tell the world – beautiful things are happening!!!

With love and gratitude,

Laura

The last few days I have been participating in the first World Conference on Early Childhood Care & Education, in Moscow. It is a fascinating experience on so many levels. I am learning from some of the most brilliant researchers, program designers, diplomats, aid groups and donors – all of whom are focused on and deeply committed to making our world a healthier, more supportive, peaceful and just world all of our children. I could tell you all of the research facts, the program details or the policy items that I learned about, but that would not be as rich as sharing with you my experience of the people I have met here. This, a world conference hosted by UNESCO, has brought government delegations from over 100 countries together, and that was what fascinated and at times captivated me. I have never been a party to a major UN event,

(the media joins in to capture the scene)

where representatives from so many places, all sit behind their country names, all with their own headsets to listen the translation of the flurry of languages, and each with their own speakers to share comments and ask questions from, or at least that is the intention, most of those that stood to share from their microphones did so to make speeches about the great work they are doing.

But my favorite part is that in the midst of all of this political grandeur and diplomatic pomp, the sheer humanness shines through. These country ambassadors, diplomats, ministers of education/finance/health… they are all so human beneath their shiny veneers and titles. I have been both heartened and entertained to watch as the representatives from Slovenia took turns getting up from their table and taking each other’s photos sitting behind their country’s name tag. Then, this led the representative from Uruguay to scoot up the aisle to pass a camera to the Slovenia team and asked that they take his picture.

When I was walking out in the reception room I saw a group of 3 people, 1 of them taking the picture of the other 2. So, naturally I stopped to offer if they would all like to be in the photo and they were very happy as I adjusted them and reset their flash, and then moved them to a different background (yes, though not talented, I am picky in the photography department!).

After getting a few nice pictures for them, I passed their camera back and asked them where they were here from. Turns out I had just photographed the country delegation from Cameroon – their Russian Ambassador, their Secretary Generals in both the Ministry of Social Affairs, and Education. They thanked me with an open invitation to Cameroon.

But, I think what has touched me most were those I met this afternoon. I attended a presentation which included Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education and my heart ached and my mind numbed as I read the slide that listed the profound and seemingly intractable problems the children in his country face — war (wars that have gone on and on for generations, and which seem destined to continue), children orphaned or abandoned, using drugs, living on the streets, those facing discrimination due to their gender, ethnicity, religion or language; the list went on and on… At the end of the session I went to introduce myself and I was stunned almost silent by the desperation, the hunger, the wanting and pleading that came screamed through his eyes, his embrace of my hand, his quiet, yet urgent invitation to come to his country, though he didn’t even know who I was yet. I also watched in admiration the curiosity and openness of the Bhutan representative. He stood to ask the group for any introductions or ideas on who could come to his country to teach them how to establish and implement programs to support his land’s youngest children. He was modest, unassuming, gentle and had a humbleness to him that I find to be a rare surface quality at this type of gathering.

All in all, it was an honor to participate, to meet so many amazing and powerful people, and to see their humanity. I was left with a great deal of hope, recognizing that HHI has so many allies all working diligently everyday to create a world we want for the children we love.

It is time to coin a new acronym. Agencies, governments and aid groups around the world talk a lot about “ECD”, which is an acronym for “early childhood development”. This refers to the age range from birth to eight years old, and is typically a rather broad reference to programs designed to improve young children’s capacity to develop and learn. However, time and time again, we find that ECD in practice is different than in definition, that is that ECD almost always focuses on children who are age three or older. This is the time when children are getting ready for school and often enter into nursery schools and early learning programs. However, since over 70% of a child’s brain is developed by the tender age of three, and the critical time for bonding and attachment has already passed, it is of critical importance that the babies and infants be reached in meaningful ways.

HHI already is designed to fill this niche in both programming for the the youngest children and in coining a new acronym that more accurately identifies our focus of “Very early childhood development”, which we will now refer to as V-ECD.

So, make note, HHI is here to reach the neediest children, at the earliest time possible, with the most simple and cost effective interventions possible, and what we do is in the newly termed category of V-ECD.

The Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) has identified Hands to Hearts International as one of four sites to document innovative and noteworthy practices in early childhood development. HHI was chosen out of 24 applications from throughout the Asia-Pacific region and is the only program identified in all of India for this privilege.

ARNEC is a professional network designed to share knowledge of effective policies and practices related to early childhood for the benefit of all countries in the region. It is funded by UNICEF, UNESCO and Plan International among other other very esteemed agencies.

A panel of experts composed of ARNEC Steering Committee members, ARNEC Secretariat, and external Advisors took into consideration the following when evaluating HHI’s application: the programme’s focus and approach; how noteworthy it was, particularly focusing on whether it was inclusive, innovative and inspirational; and how well the programme was disseminated in the region. (see HHI featured on ARNEC website)

The documentation of noteworthy practices is ARNEC’s initiative to expand the knowledge base on innovative practice in early childhood in the Asia-Pacific region by highlighting promising and noteworthy practices that best support early child development, but are not yet widely known and can serve as an inspiration to others.

The ARNEC researcher assigned to HHI is Miriam Thangaraj, she has a MBA from Xavier Labor Research Institute, a Master’s of Education from Harvard University and is a PhD candidate in International and Comparative Education at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, USA. Field research has already begun at two of HHI’s program sites in India. Stay tuned for ARNEC’s reported findings, the programmes’ documentation report will be made available later this year.

Have you seen the recent story of the 7-year-old Russian boy who was adopted to the US and then sent back to Russia with a note in his pocket? Read about it on CNN. This story seems shocking to most, but sadly, it is familiar to me. This is the exact illustration of why HHI was founded, its almost the same as the story I tell that was my personal tipping point — that which had me quit my “real job” to begin HHI in 2004. It is a classic case of a child who did not learn how to love and be loved, a basic human capacity, but one that must be learned from a loving, nurturing and consistent caregiver. This child was adopted last year at the age of 6, from an orphanage. Now from those tiny pieces of information, it is extremely likely he did not have a loving, nurturing and consistent caregiver in his first 6 years of life.

I have no idea about the orphanage from which he was adopted, but by its very definition, orphanages are about the worst place possible for a child to grow. There is no way that “staff” can truly provide the love and consistency that a child needs to build a sense of trust, belonging, security, love – the basic building blocks of all human relationships. And when these pieces are not in place in the earliest years, there is a high probability that that child will develop Attachment Disorder. This is an insidious and tragic disorder. It is not always visible, but when you do see Attachment Disorder it can look like this young boy. He was reportedly violent, lit fires and was of threat to the family.

Those reports portray the tragic consequences of Attachment Disorder, just like countless other children I served for ten years in the children’s mental health system. Specifically this story of failed adoption resembles one boy I worked with who intentionally smashed his two-year-old foster-sister’s hand in the door. Her hand was badly broken, and at the tender age of five, this boy failed out of his third foster home, second adoption and went to his first locked psychiatric unit. What was even crazier was that this child was much more comfortable in the psych ward. Why? Because at the psychiatric hospital he was not required to engage in relationships.

The devious thing about Attachment Disorder is that the child learns that the one he loves the most – typically his parent – is not safe, they are wildly unpredictable, maybe at times disappearing for days, while at other times turning violent in a flash. Or in the orphanage scenario, the caregivers change throughout the day and night. Potentially a child has a dozen different caregivers, each changes the diapers and feeds differently, some respond to a cry, some may talk to to the child, while others may not. Add to that doctors, physical therapists, speech therapists, volunteers and a few others – and each of them interacts with the child differently. All the while the baby brain is growing and trying to make connections to build a set of standard expectations for the world.

Imagine the scenario for yourself. In one case a violent or grossly negligent person is who teaches you the building blocks of relationships, in the other it is an unpredictable, mass swirl of every changing people – neither feels safe! You are bound to be confused, uncomfortable and even scared when other people want to draw close to you. You assume that it is only a matter of time before the pattern of chaos or danger will repeat. Hence you act out in an assorted variety of unpleasant ways, doing whatever it takes to push love away before you are hurt or abandoned again. As protection, you do whatever it takes to keep those who want to love you at a distance. If when you fill the heating vents with shampoo and you are forgiven, then you have to try harder. You might lock everyone out of the house and taunt them from the warm and dry inside of the house. Again, most parents would forgive. So, you must continue to up the ante — hurt or kill a family pet, vandalize the house, kick, bite, and hit! And, if you are still forgiven… and you truly believe that you must get away from these people who love you (before they hurt you by abandoning you) – then all bets are off, cause whatever level of violence is necessary.

That is how a 5 year old boy can intentionally, maliciously break the hand of his younger foster sister. He won, he believed that he was unlovable and in his warped logic he proved he was right. He was sent away and sent to a place where he was not threatened by love — the psychiatric hospital. His predictable future is sadly more of the same, he will continue to hurt and it will take years of predictable, stable love, combined with dump truck loads of patience and forgiveness, to help him heal.

There may still be some people who think what HHI does is “very nice”, but its not as important as medical interventions. I ask you to shift your perspective, consider the power of preventive medicine. What is it worth to save a child from the life described above? This is exactly what HHI aims to do and by reports, we are succeeding.