QUILTERS OF HOPE & EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT CENTER

NHCC’s ‘Quilters of Hope’ and Early Childhood Development Center were part of an effort, in 2006, to provide women infected with HIV/AIDS with a stable, sustainable income. NHCC staff identified a group of at least twenty women who requested that the organization provide full-time, 24-hour care to their young children whilst they pursued employment opportunities, often in distant provinces.

In response, NHCC founded a ‘daycare’ program for those children too young to attend public school while their parents went to work. Single females, trusting that their children were being well cared for, unexpectedly left the children for long periods of time, which significantly departed from the intended purpose of the daycare.

Identifying a need for local employment opportunities for low skilled workers, NHCC implemented a quilting project near the Chey Chumneas Hospital in Tahkmao. Utilizing skills that Kathy Tucker acquired as the director of the “Patches of Hope” project, a group of twenty HIV/AIDS infected women have been trained and employed by “Quilters of Hope” since 2007. All are widows with children.

Since inception, the quilters have produced 1500 blankets, which have a resale value of between twenty-five and fifty US dollars. Their products are sold through networks established and maintained in America, the United Kigdom and Australia.

Whilst these women are working full-time, their children are cared for by the NHCC Early Childhood Development Center. The Center employs a team of caretakers who ensure that the ten children enrolled in the program receive three nutritious meals a day, participate in pre-school activities such as building blocks and reading storybooks, and receive the medical attention they require.