Full Stomachs = A 'Full'filling Education!

While in full campaign mode in the office and tossing around large statistics and facts, we don't always share with you the personal and very real results donations can make to communities around the world. AfricAid, our partner in Tanzania, has taken on the challenge of feeding and educating primary students in Losinoni, a rural Maasai village. Until recently, AfricAid was able to provide lunch for all the students 5 days a week. This meal consisted of a simple porridge and ground nut (peanut) lunch. For most, this may not sound like the burgers, pizza and soup in a breadbowl days you remember but for these students, it was all they might receive for the entire day. Many of these children walked miles to school and hadn't eaten a breakfast. Imagine as a child, walking to school not having eaten and then spending the rest of your day feeling hungry. How much do you think you would accomplish? I'm a grown adult and as we speak, I'm munching on some dry cereal to help me make it to lunchtime!

However, with funds from the GVN Foundation and Eat So They Can, AfricAid is now able to provide makande (corn and beans) twice weekly which is much more nutritional than the porridge and ground nut meal.  I'd love to share with you what's happening at the Losinoni Primary School and how YOU, as a supportor of Eat So They Can, have made a world of difference!

Better food = better students!

The following is an excerpt from a recent letter written by Mr. Ezekiel, Head of School, about the overall achievements of the school lunch program, as well as the much needed change in providing students with a makande lunch:

"The financial support from AfricAid has really made a difference to the lives of children in this primary school as mentioned:

-Increased attendance in school. Most of the pupils including truants are attracted by school lunch. The food is now more nutritious after starting to provide cooked maize mixed with beans. (It is known as makande.) The pupils are very active and participate fully in classroom sessions because they are well fed. These achievements have resulted to successful standard seven examination results. The number of pupils selected for Secondary school increased from 13 in 2004 to 64 in 2009. Only one pupil was not selected in
a class of 65 pupils.

-Children benefitted: The Losinoni Primary School serves over 750 children who attend school 195 days (or 39 weeks) per year.  Therefore, the school lunch program supported by AfricAid serves over 146,250 lunches each year. This grant provided AfricAid the opportunity to expand the school lunch program to include a more nutritious meal two days of each week which resulted in 58,500 makande lunches being served in 2010."

Losinoni School lunch line

When the program began in Losinoni, only 13 of the 65 students passed their examinations and went on to secondary school.  Since that time, school attendance has increased by 30% and just last year 64 out of 65 of the school's seventh-year students passed their national examinations and went on to secondary school. This type of success rate is unheard of in most primary schools in Tanzania, especially those in poor, rural areas like Losinoni. 

Your contributions have supported AfricAid and their goal to help every child achieve a secondary education. Education is not always just about books and pencils just like nourishment is not always about food; it encompasses many factors including the nutrition to enable concentration and energy to get through the long school days.

Have a wonderful holiday season :)

Caitie Goddard and the ESTC Team