Meg,

Have you thought about asking any of the local churches/synagogues for the
use of  a class room for your sessions?  I know that may that I have been
associated with offer their small class rooms, social hall etc. for other
community services Boy Scouts, Family days, AA, just to name a few.  Since
your funds are limited you might offer to pay something toward the buildings
power or gas bill if they don't charge a rental fee.  Also have you thought
about maybe video taping all your sessions and letting the "students" view
then at home and have a "post test" to assess the success of learning and
comprehension?  VCR tapes are very reasonable in price and maybe someone in
your group or a business would let you barrow a camera and tri-pod.  Then
there is always thinking about offering a baby sitter (if you are not in
your home) say a responsible teen who needs a little spending money or Girl
Scout (do they still have these) who needs to earn a badge or something, or
perhaps someone who does volunteer work would consider helping out for those
six nights for the classes?

Hope this gives you some other options.

Ann
> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Sat, 22 Feb 2003 11:11:02 +0400
> From:    Pascoes in Dubai <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: babies at a training course
>
> I need some suggestions for an awkward situation. Our community based
> breastfeeding support group is training up 5 new volunteer mums to take
> turns on a Helpline phone. The requirements are fulfilling the 6 session
> evening training course and attending as many monthly meetings as =
> possible.
> At the information night we stressed that we were very much supportive =
> of
> toddlers/babies coming to these monthly meetings but we suggested that =
> mums
> may find it difficult through the training course. With such little time =
> to
> cover a lot of information we informed that there is  the need to remain
> focused and take notes and we left it at that-the mother=92s discretion. =
>  At
> the information night only one mum brought her toddler and she later
> resigned before the course started because it was too difficult for her =
> to
> organise a babysitter and she felt it would be too distracting to bring =
> her
> daughter-for her and for the others.=20
> Come the first session  2 of the mums brought their 15 month olds and =
> while
> both monitored them well neither were able to take notes and the group =
> as a
> whole was distracted by their tired tears and general noise. =20
> The other leader and myself are really struggling with what to do in =
> this
> situation. We feel that asking the mums to leave their toddlers at home
> undermines everything we believe in but the reality is that it is
> distracting and slowing down the rest of the group, including the mums
> themselves.=20
> Can I ask for people to share their experiences and suggestions with us? =
>
> Organising child care is probably the logical solution but we are =
> hindered
> by the fact we are doing this in my home. My kids are sleeping upstairs
> leaving the kitchen as the only separate space downstairs and that isn't
> really very practical.
> We cannot afford another venue because the fact of life here is there is =
> no
> community space to rent free/low cost. The only other option is hiring a
> hotel meeting room but the cost is phenomenal. The lack of community =
> spaces
> here is a real problem.=20
> Any suggestions greatly appreciated because we feel so uncomfortable =
> even
> identifying this as a problem area-it really does go against everything =
> we
> stand for.
> Meg Kingsley IBCLC
> Dubai UAE
>
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