Posts tagged nutrition
Life is calling. How far will you go?
The photograph shows the mothers and children cheering with the fresh glasses of soy milk we just made. Malnutrition is a tremendous problem among the people here, most of whom are of Lencan descent, one of the indigenous populations of Honduras. My coordinating NGO, World Vision (counterpart at far left of photograph) and I work with the women to find local and nutritious foods they can make for themselves and their families. Soy, one of these local products, only costs 10 Lempiras ($.53) a pound, and is therefore more cost effective than other products, mainly meats, with the same protein content. We begin every class with a charla (presentation) over the importance of nutrition and different nutritional elements available in local foods and then cook a few different types of food from local ingredients, soy milk and soy chorizo being examples.
- Peace Corps Health Volunteer Lauren Roberts
(Source: collection.peacecorps.gov)
Peace Corps Volunteers Katy Todd and Melissa Bernard are working with local Togolese community members to promote women’s empowerment by organizing the third annual national women’s wellness and empowerment conference. Throughout the five-day conference, 30 women will participate in seminars and activities to enhance their personal development and entrepreneurial skills. Seminar topics will include family planning, maternal health, nutrition, food security, social entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
“The conference helps women realize their potential to become leaders and role models, and to have a positive impact on those around them,” said Bernard. “Participants leave equipped not only with valuable information, but with confidence in themselves and a belief that they can make a difference.”
Happy National Peanut Butter Day! In honor of the tasty, buttery spread, do some miles for Feeding America and the World Food Programme today! #EveryMealMatters
…especially those with peanut butter.
We hear from Volunteers all the time that peanut butter is a must-have during service! Did you eat a lot of it when YOU served?
The photo was taken in South Africa at a school where Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterparts had their permagarden training. People were encouraged to design plots in different shapes to get young people interested in gardening and to use as a teaching aid.
In this one in particular, a message about HIV/AIDS is communicated, that we need vegetables to feed HIV/AIDS infected and affected.
Peace Corps Education Volunteer Malope Malapane
Neem cream demonstrations!! I’ve done five trainings so far at the baby weighings held monthly in different areas of Sirigu. So far, over 150 women have learned how to make it and took some home with them from the demonstration.
Tire Garden 5 on Flickr.
A Peace Corps Volunteer trained more than 30 girls in Guatemala to create vegetable gardens in recycled car and truck tires, and held a cooking and nutrition class with the food they generated.
My first Qunioa seeds are growing!
They scared me, they were planted a month ago and then nothing… but sure enough, tiny green life!
—This is a little project I’m working on with my friend Zoë, I gave about a teaspoon of Quinoa seeds to 8 families in my village and asked them to try growing them. The real goal is that people would be willing to eat this as a part of their regular diet, because its chocked full of protein and nutrients that aren’t a part of their regular diets. I’ll let you know how it turns out in about 5 months.
The Children’s Garden is an essential project as it will provide children with the opportunity to learn about nutrition while encouraging them to grow their own crops of which they can take home to their families.
Many children and adults currently do not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables within the village. Therefore, a significant portion of the population tends to be undernourished due to the lack of diversity and essential nutrients in their diets.
Peace Corps Community Development Volunteer Christina Alexander
(Source: peacecorps.gov)
Image description: A Peace Corps volunteer works with a local nurse in a hospital garden in Senegal. The garden provides vegetables to HIV/AIDS patients.
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“I think these photos sum up the Peace Corps Aquaculture Program, in that by teaching people how to raise fish they are able to provide themselves with a sustainable protein source that can increase health.”
Peace Corps Agriculture Volunteer Chris Kelly, who served in Zambia from 2001-2003, helped his community build these fish ponds to help introduce more protein into their diets. The child holding the fish is most likely suffering from Kwashiorkor Syndrome, which is a severe protein malnutrition that affects children.
(Source: collection.peacecorps.gov)
