You voted for it: Caring for Workers

In last week's poll we asked you what child care workers need most.  Of course the people who care for vulnerable children need many more things than what we listed, but if we started including things like 'malaria pills' you'd never be able to choose.

6% of our readers thought child care workers need more money,

68% thought they need better training,

and 25% of you thought they need a vacation.

You're all right.  Although it sounds materialistic to say child care workers need more money, they certainly do!  Not only for themselves, but simply to run the projects properly.  Many of the projects Viva works with are just generous people who open their homes to orphans, or give their time to care for disabled children.  They try to stretch their income to cover the costs and elicit donations from others in their community, but funds are usually hard to come by.


Although people caring for children have the best intentions, they are often propelled by passion and not by proper training.  Training can teach them how to protect children's rights and person, detect signs of abuse, create an environment that encourages children to voice their opinions, and provide counselling for children who need it.

A vacation is something else these wonderful people desperately need!  Many of the thousands of people who devote their lives to caring for the children around them are so busy doing just that, that they never take time for themselves.  Work starts with making breakfast before the children wake up, and ends when the last one has gone to bed.  Workers often burn out and are tempted to give up altogether.

That's why Viva Equip People is such a blessing - it addresses these three great needs and helps workers overcome them.  Through this course child care workers in developing countries receive training they need to properly care for children, learn how to run a financially accountable project and raise funds for themselves, and even have the chance to go on a spiritual retreat to gather their strength and renew their focus.  The workers benefit, the children benefit, and everything is run more efficiently.  Through Viva Equip People project workers are also able to meet people from other projects in their area, giving them important new contacts who can support them by sharing financial resources, encouraging them, and sharing knowledge.

To learn more about Viva Equip People go to www.viva.org/QualityCare/