Discover Sweet Honey’s story, which is just as sweet as her name
Stories | July 19, 2018
A CBM Australia Program Officer, recently travelled to the Philippines. Here she shares Sweet Honey’s story.
One morning, we visited Sweet Honey – a young girl who is nine years old and living with Cerebral Palsy.
Her mother told us that eight months ago, before her daughter began a CBM-supported home rehabilitation program, she could not even sit up by herself. Now she is able to hold a spoon to feed herself, she is able to sit up by herself and she is learning how to walk.
What happened during those eight months?
In simplest terms, community-based inclusive development (or CBID) is what changed Sweet Honey’s life forever.
Having been identified by a CBM partner CBID project, Sweet Honey and her family were supported by a physical therapist, John, who came to educate them on how they could help Sweet Honey improve her mobility and independence – right in their own home.
Working directly with the family, John spent time educating Sweet Honey’s parents on simple exercises they could help her do themselves.
Empowering parents
Perhaps one of the most impacting changes for Sweet Honey, though, is one that is harder to recognise with the eye.
Attending the program’s training for parents, Sweet Honey’s mother shared her transformed perspective.
In the past, she believed she was to blame for her daughter’s disability due to harmful cultural beliefs about disability.
After participating in the training with other parents, she no longer blames herself.
She understands the important role her family can play in assisting Sweet Honey’s physical therapy.
Sweet Honey today
With ongoing support, Sweet Honey’s progress with daily rehabilitation is being monitored monthly to gauge the impact that the program is having on her day-to-day living.
In these monthly visits, John continues to provide any feedback to her parents on the way they are applying the rehabilitation exercises, adjusting Sweet Honey’s program as she accomplishes milestones.
Thank you for making stories like Sweet Honey’s possible!
The project is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and loyal CBM Australia supporters.
https://www.cbm.org.au/stories/sweet-honey
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