MALI: Village uses feeding program to boost school attendance and teach health education

Record ID: 452751

  • Title: MALI: Village uses feeding program to boost school attendance and teach health education
  • Date: 30th October 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMEN COOKING IN THE SCHOOL CANTEEN WOMEN CARRYING FOOD OUTSIDE BOWLS OF FOOD (SOUNDBITE) (Bambara) MEMBER, SCHOOL CANTEEN COMMITTEE, TATA PLEA, SAYING: "Since the canteen was established, the health of our children has improved. Working at the canteen, we learned about hygiene and we take better care, with cleaning the cooking pots and washing out our food properly."
  • Embargoed: 14th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: Health,Education
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ECM6F9KI4O5HW2DV0T42IWZ2
  • Story Text: Diabolo is a village located in the Mopti region, in North Eastern Mali, which is frequently flooded. The community of Diabolo lives mostly on farming and fishing. The children in the village help their parents in their chores and many of them do not go to school. The village had one of the lowest rates of school attendance in Mali, before school canteens were established.
    The purpose of this initiative is not only to feed children, but to use the school canteens as a means to teach health education. Hygiene is given priority and children are taught to wash their hands before and after eating.
    The pupils also learn vegetable gardening and the local communities are encourage to learn how to manage the program.
    The World Food Program (WFP) recently launched a feeding program in schools in Mali, to boost school attendance in rural areas, susceptible to food shortages, which includes Diabolo. The WFP supplies maize, millet flour and legumes. .

    "With WFP, the children get daily rations, that allows them to eat according to their needs and enables them to follow lessons in class. This daily ration is composed of 150 grams of cereal, 10 grams of cooking oil and 30 grams of legumes, which are either peas or beans," said Hamadi Diallo, a WFP representative in the Mopti area.
    The school canteen is maintained by a village committee that supplies labour, firewood and ingredients. Mothers help in cooking meals for the pupils and some say they have seen the benefit of the school feeding in their children's lives.

    "Since the canteen was established, the health of our children has improved. Working at the canteen, we learned about hygiene and we take better care, with cleaning the cooking pots and washing out our food properly,"
    said Tata Plea, a member of the school canteen committee.
    The community of Diabolo has also come to learn the importance of the canteen. They are even prepared to run the school canteen on their own, if WFP withdraws.

    "Even the WFP was to withdraw its support today, thank God, we have our common fields and we are able to support the school canteen with millet and rice. With our harvest this year and fishing, we are able to keep the canteen going," said Andoulay Bouare, a member of the parents school committee The school maintains a garden that supplies the canteen with additional vegetables, and the school also sells the surplus sales. Since the school canteen started in 1998/99, the number of pupils rose from 82 to 192 today.
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