Well the 12 day nutrition project in Kumbi village has finished! We graduated 6 mothers after the 12 days were over.
Each day for 12 days these 6 maayos came together in Kumbi village (about 5km from my village) and we would cook an improved porridge to feed to their underweight children. Previously the kind of porridge they would make just consisted of mealie meal aka a carbohydrate so the kids were lacking food with a protein and vitamin/mineral source. This porridges I was teaching them to make included all three food groups. The combinations we made were:
1. kapenta(little dried fish similar to sardine, but much smaller) and veg
2. sweet potato and ground nut
3. soya bean and veg
4. pumpkin and groundnut
The favorite of the maayos was probably the sweet potato and groundnut porridge. Then after the cooking and feeding time I gave a health talk on numerous topics like family planning, malaria, nutrition, and hygeine.
I am glad I did the project, but I am also glad that it is done because it was a lot of work and a lot of time. Also many times I was left feeling frustrated because some days people wouldnt show up, or would be really late (like 1.5 hours), or I just doubted that any of it was even worth it. Were they really learning anything? Are they going to even adopt any of these behaviours when these 12 days are finished?
However, in the end the women who participated seemed to enjoy the program and I am happy to report we had weight gain from the children who attended daily. So it is a step in the right direction at least!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Return To Zambia
Well I've been back in Zambia for just about a month after being on a visit home for a few weeks. It's so strange to go home to America and feel like I never left and then to come back to Zambia and again feel like I never left. It's like a double life or something.
Since being back I've been preparing for some projects that are about to get started. One is the PS-Ishiko project, which is our version of the PD Hearth model. The program gets together between 6-10 underweight children with their caregivers for 12 days. Over the course of these 12 days the caregivers will learn how to cook nutritious foods for their kids such as porridge with a protein and veg source instead of just a carbohydrate as well as getting a daily health talk on topics ranging from HIV, malaria, to family planning. I will be starting it on Monday in Kumbi village, and then will hope to expand it to more villages if all goes well. So it'll be a busy 12 days for sure!
The second project I will be beginning is called Grass Roots Soccer (GRS) project. The program uses soccer to teach youth about HIV and other life skills. I haven't had much of an opportunity to do a ton of HIV work with the youth in my community so I am hoping this project will help to reach them.And the kids in my community LOVE soccer so I think they will really enjoy the program. So now I'm just getting last minute supplies together in order to get the project started. I have to conduct 2 sets of 11 sessions before the year comes to an end and then one more in the beginning of 2012 so it should keep me pretty busy.
Also I have a new addition to my hut in the form of an oven so now I can begin baking up a storm! So if you have any good recipes please feel free to send them my way :)
Since being back I've been preparing for some projects that are about to get started. One is the PS-Ishiko project, which is our version of the PD Hearth model. The program gets together between 6-10 underweight children with their caregivers for 12 days. Over the course of these 12 days the caregivers will learn how to cook nutritious foods for their kids such as porridge with a protein and veg source instead of just a carbohydrate as well as getting a daily health talk on topics ranging from HIV, malaria, to family planning. I will be starting it on Monday in Kumbi village, and then will hope to expand it to more villages if all goes well. So it'll be a busy 12 days for sure!
The second project I will be beginning is called Grass Roots Soccer (GRS) project. The program uses soccer to teach youth about HIV and other life skills. I haven't had much of an opportunity to do a ton of HIV work with the youth in my community so I am hoping this project will help to reach them.And the kids in my community LOVE soccer so I think they will really enjoy the program. So now I'm just getting last minute supplies together in order to get the project started. I have to conduct 2 sets of 11 sessions before the year comes to an end and then one more in the beginning of 2012 so it should keep me pretty busy.
Also I have a new addition to my hut in the form of an oven so now I can begin baking up a storm! So if you have any good recipes please feel free to send them my way :)
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