K-Blog

Tackling Malnutrition

The troubling statistics in a new report on the dire situation of malnutrition worldwide, issued by Save the Children, is a sad reminder that we need to do more to support the youth in developing countries.

The report states that 2.6 million child deaths each year have as their underlying cause -- malnutrition. A common sideeffect of malnutrition is stunting, which means that poor nutrition prevents children's bodies and brains from fully developing. The report points out that one in four children around the world are now stunted.

The facts are hard to swallow, but the lesson is clear: we need to address malnutrition now to stop this trend. The report identifies six steps to tackling malnutrition and Kageno is both relieved and proud to know that we are poised and already following these steps to address malnutrition in the communities where we work:

1. Visibility: Kageno's Vulnerable Child Assistance Program highlights the existence of malnutrition in the communities where we work. We don't hide this reality --we work with Community Health Mobilizers to identify the most vulnerable children in the community so that we can include them in this program. We're currently revamping this program to ensure that children identified as severely malnourished receive meals immediately and that we effectively improve their nutrition before they cycle off the program.

2. Invest in direct interventions: We partner with amazing organizations like Table for Two to find the funding necessary to provide daily school meals to the youth who need it most.

3. Fill the health worker gap: Before Kageno came to Banda Village, there was no proper health clinic and the nurse assigned to the village was rarely present or sober. The village now boasts a clinic with two in-take rooms, a minor surgeries room, and a laboratory. We also employ an incredibly qualified nurse. We also appealed to the Ministry of Health to partner with us in these efforts. They now send us two nurses and one lab technician to help us address the needs of Banda Village.

4. Protect families from poverty: Kageno's fundamental mission is to help these communities eradicate poverty. With an emphasis on women and children, we provide trainings, microloans, employment and much more to help change the course of poverty from the ground up.

5. Harness agriculture: One of our four program areas is agriculture. We help small, local farmers learn new techniques to increase yields and diversify their crops to improve nutrition at home. Our nurse also teaches lessons on varied diets to provide better nutrition. We use our own demonstration farms to provide vegetables and fruits to the children on our feeding program.

6. Galvanise political leadership:  We need to use our work in places like Banda to appeal to the authorities in-country to help us tackle this issue. We do however hope that, through eco-tourism and our future eco-lodge, we will bring critical awareness to the problems like malnutrition that the government should be helping us address.

Kageno's nursery schools and feeding programs understand the importance of providing early education and nutrition to the youth in their most formative years. This period is essential for cognitive and physical development and we're doing everything we can to help children learn, eat and grow at a young age.

A new kitchen, currently being built in Banda through the generosity of Japanese organic grocer Oisix and TFT, has the potential to increase the number of children we feed 5-fold. Our goal is to expand beyond our feeding program and nursery school in order to also feed the two primary schools in Banda village. We need your help to do this.

To take action in directly addressing malnutrition where Kageno works,

please donate online now.

For more information on the kitchen project and the funding needed to expand our feeding program, please email info@kageno.org.

Thank you for joining us in this fight to battle malnutrition and to give vulnerable children a fair, healthy opportunity to grow into successful adults.

Children line up on Mfangano for mealtime, Jan. 2012

Some of Banda's kids on the malnourished feeding program. Photo provided by Lauren de Remer

 

source: Save the Children, "A Life Free from Hunger"

Mfangano at mealtime

Kageno Kenya is working hard to make our feeding program strong. Whenever possible, we're adding fruits, vegetables, and fish like sardines (omegas 3s!) to the meals we give to the kids. And in addition to teaching nutrition, we're teaching the importance of sanitation. Rule no. 1: always wash your hands!

Guest blogger: Lauren de Remer

Lauren de Remer came to Banda on a total whim when her other travel plans in the region were derailed by unsafe conditions.  She had heard of Kageno's great work, and so she rerouted to Banda to see for herself.  Read a full account of her stay below.

Land of a Thousand Hills, by: Lauren de Remer

    I never intended for Rwanda to be my first stop in Africa. It was more like Rwanda chose me – and I couldn’t be happier that it did. My plan was to fly to Samburu, Kenya for a week to volunteer at an elephant conservation project, when two days prior to my international flight, I was told not to come because of revenge killings in a nearby village that occurred as a result of increased pressure on ivory poaching. I had no choice but to pull together a Plan B in a matter of 48 hours. My first instinct was to safari in the Maasai Mara, or go gorilla trekking through Uganda. I even seriously considered a last minute summit up Mt. Kilimanjaro. That is, until Kageno was recommended to me by a friend – a friend whom also happens to work in the travel industry (so I was confident he knew what he was talking about). “It was my favorite spot in Africa. I even named my dog after the village there,” he explained. “Here’s the thing. Would you rather be climbing up a steep, miserable, highway-of-a-route in the dark with a mail-order-guide when you can go back and do it properly with friends another time? Or would you rather be relaxing in a remote village eating bananas and playing soccer with the kids?” Soon as he said that, my decision was made. Banda Village it is.

    From the moment my plane landed, I felt safer than I did at some places at home. It’s funny what the media will put in your head, and I refused to let my American stereotypes fool me. What might be dodgy in the US, was quite the opposite in Rwanda. Strangers were friendly, and the others, skeptical, but smiled the moment I reached out to them. They seemed to question why a Westerner like me would choose to visit their country. The sociable one approached me immediately and didn’t seem to care what my reasoning was; they embraced me openly and with helpful advice. Before that day, I knew very little about Rwanda. Images of violence and corruption came to mind. Fortunately, I was about to learn that this country was so much more than gorillas and genocide.

    Finding a taxi was a piece of cake, they all wanted to help me get to where I needed to be, which was the bus station at the other end of Kigali -- and fast. My driver chatted me up, selling Rwanda like it was a tourism advertisement. I hadn’t even been there for an hour and he was already asking me what I thought and when I would visit again. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the least bit bothersome; I found it settling that he loved his home so much that he wanted to show it off.

    Thirty minutes after joining some mid-day traffic, we arrived at the Impala Bus Station, just in time to catch my twelve o-clock bus. It took ten minutes just to buy my ticket as I found myself lost in a crowd of people, none of whom spoke English except one girl named Wizzy who was close to me in age. We immediately made friends, and her sister took a liking to me too. She informed me that the ride would be five hours long, so we ran across the street to a gas station to stock up on a few snacks. It started raining once we left, and I was nervous about arriving in Nyungwe before the sun went down. Wizzy soon convinced another lady on the bus to let me borrow her phone to text Levi (Kageno’s on-site project manager) as to which bus I was on so he’d know my ETA. I tried to give her the equivalent to a US dollar but she refused to accept it. The following hours were spent chatting away with my new girlfriend Wizzy, exchanging laughs as if we’d known each other our whole lives. To this day, I am kicking myself for not getting her email address.
 
    Not only did Kageno make it super easy for me to visit their project last minute, they made it hard not to. I was met at the top of the hill by a man named Appolonaire who took me on the back of his motorcycle down the hill. I was dressed in hiking clothes, anticipating a 3-hour trek but was happily surprised with the change of plans – this was my first time ever on a motorcycle (embarrassing, I know). The scenic hillside overlooking Banda Village as we navigated the muddy switchbacks was more green and lush than words can describe. It started raining again suddenly, and the helmet Appolonaire let me use was five sizes too big and bobbing about as we crossed roots and puddles. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation I was in. I had made it in one piece, and there was no place I would have rather been in that given moment. “This is what true adventure is all about,” I thought to myself.

Everyone at Banda was excessively welcoming -- an admirable reaction given that they have a substantial number of visitors passing through each year. In the five days that I was there, I learned about ten words in Kinyarwanda and could converse using basic greetings by my second day. My chauffeur and lovely new friend, Jeremiah took me with him everywhere. We went on a few “home visits” and he gave me a tour of the entire village. He introduced me to a boy named Thomas who had a severe brain tumor resulting from an aggressive cancer which is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to witness (I still don’t know how I kept from crying in empathy for this 7-year old boy). There was nothing they could do by that point than comfort him; unfortunately, a month or so later, I received notice that Thomas had passed away shortly thereafter. I figure at least he is not suffering anymore, which I am more than thankful for.

One morning, Jeremiah took me to mass at the local Pentecost Church, and I was treated like a celebrity (just about every head turned when we entered, even though we were a few minutes late; we were requested to sit at the front). That week a local couple had just purchased a car – the first in the entire village – so you can imagine how big of a deal that was. Everyone was excited and proud, especially since it was a gift they intended to share with the entire community. Jeremiah encouraged me to introduce myself in front of them all – some 600 people – in their native tongue no less. Talk about embarrassing! I was blushing and surprisingly nervous, which is odd considering I have such an outgoing personality, but after pulling it off, I spent the following hours individually greeting and hugging about 70 people. The thing is, Rwandans spend half their day making small talk, and happily at that! It’s almost considered rude if you don’t stop and say hello, so I made the most of this cultural norm, and in doing so, I found more joy in it than I have in any of my previous travels. My personal opinion: they even put Fijians to shame (and that’s saying a lot).

 The rest of my time in Banda was spent doing a variety of things there. I was able to play soccer with a group of kids one afternoon, helped Mamma Sophia prepare sosoma for malnourished children, and even taught the students a song and how to play Red Rover on the grassy field. I also taught the teachers some basic English and geography one morning, which made me wish I were able to stay longer as that seemed to have made the most impact. The teachers were eager to learn, and given the opportunity, would have excelled rapidly – there’s no doubt in my mind.

The other Americans that I came across were slim to none. Jeremiah and I went on a hike with an English woman named Natasha who was visiting the week before I’d arrived but left on my second day. Natasha was looking to get into humanitarian work and had set up some interviews back in Kigali with female genocide victims. There were also two Peace Corps volunteers there – Sarah and Jarod – who had completed a drinking water project for the elementary school that was funded by Kageno. It had four classrooms with approximately 80 students in each. Sarah and Jarod had also painted a map outside in the hallway so the kids could familiarize themselves with Africa’s geography. There were other sustainable projects in the works too: soap making, briquettes created from recycling natural fibers for cooking purposes, scheduled immunization days at the hospital, etc. Sarah and Jarod had months ahead there still, and I was undeniably jealous (even more so because of their of their fluency in Kinyarwanda; if only I had an infinite amount of vacation time to spare…)

I will never forget the kindness of the staff both at headquarters with giving me detailed directions and putting me in touch with ground operations there, but also the faces in the field who inspired me with love and encouragement. I even ran out of money as I was leaving (long story), but the Kageno staff lent me what I needed to return home safely. I felt horrible having to ask them for anything, and paid them back the moment I got home, but the point is – they got me out of a bind. I wouldn’t put my faith in a better organization. They know what they’re doing, their work has proven successful, and the best part is, they’re creating an entirely new image for their country while doing it. Having seen the real Rwanda with my own two eyes and felt its compassion with my own soul, I can’t help but want to go back, and this time, with a completely new perception of what it means to be Rwandan.

Cash cows

Less than one year ago, Kageno Rwanda had one, single cow to its name.  It was a pregnant cow no less, but many thought the calf would never come.  We're very proud to announce that we now have 5 cows, 3 of which are pregnant, 1 more en route to the village and 2 more promised cows on their way very soon. 

The term "cash cow" has a whole new meaning in a village like Banda.  Dairy cows are an incredibly rich resource. Their milk is incorporated into the feeding program at our nursery school, further fortifying the sosoma the children receive.  We're also starting this year off with a new bio-gas program that will ensure the cows waste doesn't go to waste.  Instead, we'll use it as an energy source and to enrich the soil that grows crops for the feeding program and beyond. 

Click here to watch a fun video by Levi, Jeremiah and Japhet introducing us to the first cow in Banda and her little calf.