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What to do about food poverty?
Aktion Sodis Blog ᛫
November 28, 2021
Leonie Ziller
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"Let me have a go too, it's my turn!"
"And how much do you weigh?"
"Haha, I'm even 10 cm taller than you!"
The children in the classroom of the primaria in Ipote shout wildly. Today is a special day, because today the school class has had a visitor. And this visitor has brought a scale and a tape measure and many questionnaires.
The children from the Micani communities have only been allowed to go to school again for a few weeks. The Corona pandemic had prevented them from going for the entire last school year. Now, however, normality is to return, especially for regions like rural Micani. Despite the rising number of coronas in the country, the government is sticking to attendance classes for these children, because otherwise there would be no possibility for most of them to learn - and they have already had to forfeit a lot in the last year.
...
A school start full of activities
In the food security project, we benefit from the presence of the students. At the beginning of the year, the micro-irrigation systems were rebuilt in all village schools after the long vacations, and now, in the fall, each school has already had at least one harvest. We used the start of the school year not only for the technical implementation but also to conduct a nutritional study. This had been planned for a long time, but could not be implemented earlier due to the pandemic situation.
The figures from the Ministry of Health and the disease statistics show that malnutrition continues to be a major problem for children in the region. In order to see how we can individually and purposefully address each community and their needs, we need more detailed data. What exactly is lacking in nutrition? Vitamins, proteins, trace elements? Only on the basis of this knowledge can the children's menu be optimized accordingly.
The cooperation with the University Mayor de San Simon
For the purpose of this data collection, a cooperation with the state university in Cochabamba, the UMSS (Universidad Mayor de San Simon) began and now three students of nutritional sciences accompany our project. They visit the villages, weigh and measure the children, ask more specific questions about dietary habits, consumption of vegetables in the dry season, how they get to school, and other physical activity. Data collection is not always easy, but the younger children in particular have a lot of fun doing it. For example, students Veronica, Pamela and Miriam tell us that the children at the village schools proudly compare their weight and height with each other and some even try to get in line several times to be weighed again.
They emphasize combining local foods with locally grown vegetables to create a kid-friendly dish - for example, pancakes made with spinach or a healthy carrot cake.
The first data were collected in the summer. Then the project work began for the students. All three are writing their final thesis as part of their work at Fundación SODIS.
For this, Veronica and Pamela are conducting recipe workshops with teachers and children from the village schools. They are trying to find a way to integrate vegetables from the school garden into the school's menu in the communities where the data analysis yielded striking results. They emphasize combining local foods with locally grown vegetables to create a kid-friendly dish - for example, pancakes made with spinach or a healthy carrot cake.
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Miriam, on the other hand, is dedicated to another problem that has been observed in recent months: the question of how to preserve local food, the question of preserving food from the garden. Even without refrigerators, there is the possibility of creating a cool and shielded environment for the vegetables.
Danke, dass du die andinen Gemeinden unterstützt ihre Ernährungssituation resilienter und besser zu gestalten!
50 Bäume für eine Aufforstungsfläche
50
100 Obstbäume für eine Agroforstfläche
333
Zaunpfähle für eine Agroforstfläche
133
GEMEINSAM WACHSEN!
Help as much as you want!
Unterstütze den Bau von Gewächshäsuern im Projekt Ernährungssicherheit
Miriam uses a model that is already traditionally used in other rural regions in Bolivia. Two clay pots with an insulating layer of soil ensure temperatures of up to 7 degrees and a shelf life of the vegetables of up to 25 days. Miriam has already conducted the first experiments - now her project will be practically implemented in selected village schools. The nutrition study served the students as a foundation stone for two different project ideas that serve the same goal: food security in the Micani district.
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