Feeding Programme and Tackling Malnutrition
Village Rwanda UK began because children were hungry and needed feeding. It was decided that nursery education should also be provided for those children. Later, a Children’s Centre was built, which now forms the hub of VRUK work in this rural area. It is owned and managed by local NGO, GiFo in partnership with VRUK, and used by health workers and the community for meetings and skills training.
After porridge, the nursery children use their break time for having fun, playing football or skipping with their teachers
The long-term plan, in partnership with GiFo, is for the nursery and feeding programme to become self-sustaining. This will take time. VRUK trustees are looking to income generation by local people to provide some of the funding. It is important to understand and respect the culture and work closely with the local officials. VRUK has a strong philosophy of working, with mutual respect, together with the community as partners. Our friends on the GiFo Board know what is best for their community and the best ways of working. Each year they submit a draft plan and after consultation, VRUK trustees make decisions as to how that plan can be best supported, from skills and financial perspectives. In time, the aim is for this additional income earned within the community to cover the cost of teacher salaries and porridge ingredients. If the Feeding and Education Programmes can continue into the foreseeable future, then VRUK will have achieved its aim.
However, in recent months, food costs have tripled, causing increasing hardship, especially in rural areas. Flooding has caused landslides, crops to fail and homes to be washed away. In addition, borders between Rwanda, and the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Burundi and DRC have had movement restricted because of conflict, the Ebola crisis and Covid pandemic. This situation has resulted in imports of food and grain becoming very expensive.
During the Covid pandemic when all Rwandan schools were closed, the porridge ingredients were distributed to the nursery parents each month. This meant the children continued receiving their nourishment.
If you want to help, you can support a nursery child by buying a Gift Card for porridge ingredients @ £10 or £30
Alternatively, you can donate through the website.
Solving the Problem of Malnutrition
In 2018, Routhe and Stephanie, local health workers, had identified 10 malnourished local children during a routine health check. They agreed with headteacher of the nursery school that nutrition training for parents was the best way to address this problem. With new families joining the nursery, this training will be repeated each year at one of the termly parents’ meetings.
Trustees agreed to fund initial training about balanced diets, making best use of locally grown produce and demonstrating hygienic food preparation. Highlighting cheap, local sources of essential nutrients present in small fish, fruit and vegetables is hugely important. Routhe and Stephanie delivered 7 days of training for 60 parents and their children. This approach enables parents to help each other and work together, growing small quantities of a range of crops. For example, ground nuts are an excellent source of protein but because the plants are large and take up a lot of space, it puts some cultivators off growing them for sale. However, small quantities are sufficient for children's wellbeing and the parents can modify their plots for this.
After the demonstrations, the audience of parents and accompanying children got to eat the freshly prepared food which was highly motivating! Take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself…..
This programme has changed lives in Gasundwe for the better! Donors and supporters of VRUK provided funding to make this happen and our Rwandan colleagues provided the know how and the hard work. A good team effort, well done everybody!