Resilience and action

After the incredible Mr and Mrs Tiny Tots pageant, the research group sessions at Sibongile have begun! It is a process of learning, awareness, motivation, peer support, team building, training and much more that can’t be expressed. As Noma says in the second session: ‘We as parents, we know so little. It is so difficult to get all the information we need. We need to learn, we need to talk, we need to hear each other’s stories. I want to know more about what my child has, and what I can do for her. I want to know what has caused her disability, I want to know how I can help her to improve and I want to learn how she can reach her maximum potential in her life. There are so many parents out there that could use this sort of support. And yet, we don’t know who they are. They might be our neighbours, but we never see their child. We need to find them, and include them, and together we can learn and do so much. I am excited to be here and would be disappointed if we can’t get a big group of parents together. We need this’. 

This shortened version of Noma’s account of the role that an action research project could play in her life, reflects so much motivation, self-awareness, modesty and resilience at the same time. It reveals the importance of viewing these mothers not as passive, overburdened people who need ‘our’ sympathy and assistance. Instead, it touches upon our own insecurities, aspirations and hopes in our lives and provides for a far more positive and realistic view of these mothers; as resilient active women who strive for health and happiness, and can use any help they can get in the process.