MOMENTS THAT MATTER (MTM) PROGRAMME – MULUHYIA B, EBUSIRALO, LUANDA, VIHIGA COUNTY
Getray Vugutsa, 32, had always been a good mother, by every measure she had been given. Her children had food. They had shelter. They went to school. When her firstborn was still small, she responded to disobedience the way many parents in her community did: firmly, quickly, and sometimes harshly. She thought firmness was the point.
Then ECD Promoter John Osome began making home visits to Getray’s family in Muluhyia B village as part of ADS Western’s Moments That Matter (MTM) programme. John didn’t arrive with corrections. He arrived with curiosity and a curriculum, one that asked Getray to look at her child’s early years as a critical window, and at her own parenting as something that could always grow.
“I thought I was doing well because my child had food, went to school, and was growing up,” Getray reflected. “What I did not know was that how I was correcting my child was planting seeds of fear rather than understanding.”
Through structured Caregiver Group Sessions and Learning Gatherings, Getray and her husband Charles were introduced to MTM’s core pillars: positive parenting, responsive caregiving, learning through play, nutrition, and shared gender roles in the home. For a woman who was already a faith leader in her community, these lessons landed with weight. They aligned with her values, love, patience, service, but asked her to apply them at home first.
Today, Getray’s kitchen garden feeds her family with intention. Her younger child, now two years and almost two months, is growing in an environment of play and consistent, loving interaction. Her firstborn is thriving at school in a way that reflects the security of a home rebuilt on understanding. And her husband Charles, who was once a background figure in parenting, is now present and actively engaged.
“Discipline is not about breaking a child’s spirit. It is about building their character. I understand that now, and it has changed everything.”
— Getray Vugutsa, Muluhyia B, Vihiga County
