Ibu Palmira, 37, is the head of the Posyandu kaders (health clinic volunteers) in Beriulou village, South Sipora.  Ibu Palmira has two children and she works in the fields. 

Posyandu is the monthly village health clinic for pregnant mothers and children under five and Ibu Palmira is very active every month in serving her community with appropriate health messages. 

SurfAid’s Mother and Child Health (MCH) program was implemented in Beriulou from August until November 2011 as part of SurfAid’s Mentawai tsunami recovery activities, with lead funding by AusAID and the New Zealand Aid Programme.

Ibu Palmira received nutrition training from SurfAid staff in August. All Beriulou kaders then agreed to implement follow-up activities including meetings, outreach and home visits to the community members.

On 25 September, a meeting was held in Beriulou Catholic Church for mothers with a child under five and pregnant women. Normally SurfAid staff would help and support kaders to organize this type of meeting, however Ibu Palmira visited the families to invite them to gather at the church and she facilitated the health session without needing help from the SurfAid MCH team.

Ibu Palmira had even prepared all the tools and materials needed for the meeting, which SurfAid had provided during the August training. Different types of seeds (beans, nuts etc) were also distributed to community members at the training to increase the protein intake for children under five and pregnant women, because it is difficult to get the protein in Beriulou village.

Although the SurfAid team was very tired after giving the training, they were very proud to see that Ibu Palmira was able to implement several activities by herself. Ibu Palmira is a remarkable woman who seriously wants to try to change the health and nutrition status of her community.  Ibu Palmira is just an ordinary person but is able to do something extraordinary.

With the work of Ibu Palmira, pregnant community members are able to better understand how to take care and maintain their pregnancy until delivery, followed by giving colostrum right after the delivery and exclusive breastfeeding for six months, all very important health messages. 

Messages about eating nutritious foods according to food groups and regular visits to the Posyandu or midwife during pregnancy, and attending Posyandu until the child is five, will eventually create a healthy child and family.