Santi, a Cadre, a Counselor and then a Tutor

Santi, 34, is one of the cadres of the Under Five Service Post (Posyandu) in Tanjung Bakau hamlet in Tambatan village.

A mother of two, she is very energetic and deft in doing the work of a cadre. When participating in the last Baby and Child Feeding cadre training, she was one of most punctual and the fastest in understanding the training materials.

After seeing her skills, the facilitators commented that she should be recruited as a facilitator.

Santi provides counseling to other mothers. The most difficult obstacle when doing counseling is working with the mothers who have children under two, due to the practice of mothers feeding their children with instant foods.

Due to her success, Santi is not only a Posyandu cadre, but also an administrator and a tutor in the new Harapan Bunda Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centre in her village. 

Initially she attended a training for tutors in 2011 and early 2012 although at that time there was not an ECCD in her village. 

In November 2012, the ECCD opened, hosted in the village hall.

Santi is happy being a tutor, in addition to her administrative roles, because she has a dream that with the presence of ECCD in Tambatan village the children will become better educated.

Though she does not earn a lot of money as the administrator, Santi enjoys her job because it helps her learn to be more patient with her own children. 

She works with a variety of children and she believes that her own character will be better by what she learns from them.

Her wish for the ECCD is that every child can continue to learn happily. 

By Hotmianida Panjaitan, Health Coordinator, Sambas Operations Office | Translated by Lukas Ginting