Help give kids the brightest start to life

From the day she was born, Janet lived in a series of squalid refugee camps in Africa. Her parents had fled war-torn Burundi, a country in East Africa devastated by civil war and genocide.

After many years living in a refugee camp, her family was granted a humanitarian visa and came to live in Australia.

Janet was pregnant with her son Mosi when she came to live in Perth and everything felt so foreign.  Despite the little English she spoke, people just couldn’t understand her.

With her husband left far behind in Africa, Janet was lonely and isolated.  And so too was Mosi. He was desperate for friends but had no interaction with other kids and was not old enough for school.

Each day, he'd rush outside to greet his neighbours when they got home from school. But they were much older than him, and they'd just brush him aside and go indoors.

Thankfully, Janet and Mosi found Save the Children’s It Takes a Village multicultural early learning program.

It’s a special playgroup designed to help children from migrant and refugee backgrounds prepare for school. Read our 'A day at Playgroup...' booklet to find out exactly what a morning at playgroup includes.

Mosi made friends at playgroup and learnt how to interact with other kids, how to share and how to follow instructions in English from the playgroup staff.

At the same time, Janet was able to participate in the program’s conversational English classes next door, while Mosi was in safe hands, learning and playing.

Today Mosi is 5 and is going to school. Thanks to the early childhood education he received at the playgroup – and the English he learnt there – he's made a smooth transition into school.

Janet is now a community care worker and is furthering her nursing qualification at university. “It’s something I’d never have achieved without the help of the playgroup” she says. The program provided more than just English classes, but the important support network Janet needed.

But there are many families like Janet’s who don’t have the opportunity to experience the many benefits of our program.

Help us ensure that every child in Australia gets a decent education and every mother can speak the same language their children will learn at school.

It costs:

• $30 for a child, like Mosi to go to playgroup for a day
• $90 can run a conversational English class for a group of 15 mothers, like Janet

Please make a donation today and together we can ensure all children in Australia and around the world are given the best start to life. 

• Download 'It Takes a Village' Appeal donation form and post or fax it to us. Fax: (03) 9938 2088 or Post: 'It Takes a Village' Appeal, Save the Children, Reply Paid 86599, Fitzroy VIC 2065
• Call our toll free number 1800 76 00 11 and donate over the phone

Thank you for your support.