“Experiences of ICDP” are taken from the report by the ICDP team from the Ark and Mark organization:
One parent shared how ICDP helped her become present and available to her children and partner. She had a challenging childhood after losing both her parents at a young age. The loss contributed to her making destructive lifestyle choices to survive. She had two children at a young age, however, she gave them away to be cared for by her elder siblings as she did not have the capacity due to her lifestyle. Currently with a young child, ICDP helped her to appreciate the importance of being a positive caregiver and to build a positive, interactive and enabling relationship with her children. ICDP was a needed intervention adding to the counselling she was already receiving from the local social welfare office. She has since made positive changes in her life and she is working on her relationship with her family, even ensuring bringing her other two children back home. In her words, “ICDP saved me from losing my life, and it saved my relationship. I am a better person because of it.”
One teacher acknowledged the impact ICDP has had in positively changing her character, as witnessed by the positive change in her students’ behaviour and academic performance. The teacher explained how she openly shared her dislike and hatred towards students taking her subject. The teacher enrolled for ICDP lessons, and she decided to extend her new experience and knowledge beyond the home, to the classroom. She attested that her positive behaviour towards her students was reciprocated by the students, and there was such significant improvement in their grades in the particular subject, where students moved from grade D to A. The teacher became the envy of other teachers as students were always happy and enthusiastic to attending her lessons. The other teachers eagerly wait to join in the next cycle of ICDP implementation.
One female parent shared how ICDP helped her to address the main issue that affected her family the most: favouritism to the last-born son, an only child between the couple, although there are other maternal siblings. This caused conflict between the married couple, such that the lady started to lose hope in the possibility of keeping their marriage. However, after enrolling in ICDP, she shared the ICDP content with her husband, who also acknowledged the notable positive change as experienced in the home, although the last-born son was finding the new change unfavourable as the new way of interacting was an unfamiliar experience for him. This female parent was hoping and wishing ICDP developed a course tailored particularly for children so that she could enrol her son. She was very appreciative of how ICDP saved her marriage and family.