Project Background
More than 6 out of 10 children under five in West Laboya are underweight or suffer from chronic malnutrition or stunting. The extreme poverty, prevalence of malaria and high prevalence of diarrhoea among children under-five are some of contributing factors. This multi-faceted problem, requires a multi-pronged approach. Clean water and sanitation, improvement of basic health services, health and hygiene promotion, parenting classes, cooking classes and intensification of household nutrition garden initiatives are some of the tools supported by Footprints that have been used to fight malnutrition.
Key Project Outcomes
Support from Footprints has helped to establish household nutrition gardens, health promotion and coaching sessions, cooking classes and Nutrition Education and Rehabilitation Sessions (NERS) which contributed to a reduction by 4% of children under weight in West Laboya, Sumba, Indonesia, within less than a year of implementation. This is quite remarkable as expected results usually are a reduction of only 1% each year. In addition to this amazing result, the project also:
- Established 40 household nutrition gardens
- 220 mothers joined monthly cooking classes
- Increased overall health and economic status in the area
Project Activities
Nutrition Gardens
In our design we wanted the 10 community health posts (posyandu) that have access to water, to create nutrition gardens at the health post. In that way, the harvest could be used for cooking classes, for additional food for underweight children that visit the health post, and the community members would see the results of the gardens. We hoped this would raise their interest and create enthusiasm to try this at home. 50 community health volunteers were trained in the principles of permaculture. During the hands-on training, the participants learned to identify soil conditions, create garden bedding, use planting and rotation systems, integrated pest management using natural resources (such as chili, turmeric, lemongrass) and detergent, a well as seed production.
Intensive coaching from the trainer, including follow-up by phone coaching, stimulated the participants to plant nutrition gardens in their own yards, rather than just at the Health Posts. To date 40 households have their nutrition gardens, growing vegetables and herbs, including eggplant, bok choy, chili, lemon grass, long beans, string beans, carrot, spinach and water spinach. Most of the harvests are used for family consumption, shared with their neighbors or shared for cooking classes at the Health Posts. 5 households have even been able to sell their produce at the local market.
Cooking Classes
In the remote communities, most mothers and caregivers have no knowledge of the nutritional value of a meal, or of the vegetables they are growing. Cooking classes provide a fun way for families to learn how to prepare affordable, delicious and nutritious meals that children like to eat.
The food used in the cooking classes is made from local ingredients such as moringa leaf, mung bean, carrot, cassava and string bean. Some participants bring their own nutrition garden harvest to share for the cooking class. Over the last year mung bean porridge, rice porridge with chicken and moringa leaf, healthy snacks like traditional cassava cake, stuffed cassava balls and pumpkin donuts were prepared and most importantly, consumed the cooking classes. Both parents and their children really like the new ways of preparing food. The pumpkin donuts are a big hit, not just with the kids, but also with the parents/caretakers.
During the cooking classes, SurfAid staff and health volunteers encourage the parents and caretakers to take part in preparing food and practicing feeding, especially for children under two. Overall, 220 mothers and caretakers (25% of total mothers with children under five) joined in 6-8 sessions per Health Post.
Nutrition Education Rehabilitation Sessions (NERS)
As the nutrition status of some children was very alarming, a more intensive approach was needed. In addition to cooking classes, SurfAid also conducted Nutrition Education Rehabilitation Sessions (NERS) in Pegarewa hamlet, Patiala Dete village . The mothers and caretakers of under nourished children followed 7 consecutive days of intensive coaching on how to prepare food for their under nourished kids, effective feeding practices, and hygiene. 21 under nourished children and their mothers joined NERS and 17 (81%) of them gained weight (200 to 2000 grams) within 2 cycles of NERS.
Further, community health volunteers and SurfAid staff coach the caregivers on child rearing, including taking their children every month to the Health Post to check the nutritional status of the children and checking on health status during regular home visits.
All these efforts combined contributed to a reduction in underweight children under 5 in West Laboya from 32.2% (May 2016) to 28% (September 2016).
Case Study: Roslin Kela Beko
Roslin Kela Beko (30 years old), better known as Mama Ross, attended our permaculture training in April 2016. Soon after the training, Mama Ross planted a nutrition garden in her home yard. She admitted that she faces a lot of challenges in maintaining her nutrition garden. “The chickens and grasshoppers eat my seeds!” she said, exasperated. To deal with this, she and her husband agreed to share the responsibility for the nutrition garden. So whenever Mama Ross is away, her husband will take of care their nutrition garden.
Mama Ross has now harvested twice. The first harvest was mainly used for her family but the second harvest was more bountiful, and her neighbors and other community members wanted to buy her vegetables. She proudly explains that her customers have already pre-ordered her next harvest of vegetables!
Mama Ross is getting additional income of $13 to $18 per week from her garden. This might not sound like much, but if you compare this to an average monthly income of $ 120 you see just how big a change this is. She uses some of the money to buy eggs for her grandchildren. She says that she is now able to buy 30 eggs every month.
Project Background
In Indonesia, the underdeveloped island of Sumba is notorious for its high levels of maternal and infant mortality and malnutrition. In the remote sub-district of Lamboya Barat, malnutrition is the single biggest contributor to childhood mortality. Out of 781 children who visited the community health during our initial assessment, we found 7 cases of stunting, 124 cases of wasting, and 53 children classified as underweight.
People in extremely remote areas like Sumba are often forgotten. Most people in these regions cannot access basic public services; either because there are no services, or because they are too far away. The quality of available health services in Sumba is far below national standards, and considered to be at the lowest level. This directly contributes to the unnecessary deaths, especially among pregnant women and children under five. It also contributes to the unacceptably high levels of malnutrition, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection in children under five.
Project Activities
This project will establish nutrition gardens in the remote villages of Lamboya Barat, Sumba. This is only possible as SurfAid has already worked with the communities to bring water close to their homes, which can now be used to water the nutrition gardens.
Technical agricultural training will include topics such as compost making, seed saving, garden design, and organic pest control. Most of the training is learning by doing, and in every village we will first establish demonstration gardens. In our experience, with careful guidance, these will inspire people to start their own vegetable gardens.
SurfAid will also help to foster the creation of family vegetable gardens by starting seed banks in each community. We use non-hybrid organic seeds which produce good quality seedlings. As families cultivate different seeds in their own vegetable gardens, surplus vegetables can be traded with other families or communities.
Seeds harvested from the community gardens will be used for cooking classes that demonstrate preparation of nutritious foods. In these communities, most mothers and caretakers have no knowledge of the nutritional values contained in the vegetables they are growing. The cooking classes will provide a fun way for families to learn how to prepare delicious and nutritious meals that children like to eat.
Each activity in this project will be used to improve nutrition status, especially for children under five and pregnant women. While SurfAid provides materials necessary for the vegetable gardens, seed banks, and cooking classes, it is capacity building of community members and government staff that lies at the heart of this project.
Project Objectives
SurfAid’s Nutrition Project will benefit 2,005 households in the 15 communities of Lamboya Barat. These communities are comprised of 8,604 individual family members, including 1,324 children under five.
Objectives:
- 4 formal trainings on permaculture, pest management and nutrition
- 15 organic seeds banks and family nutrition gardens established
- 1 cooking class per month at each of the 15 community health posts
Follow Mama Joni’s (bare) footsteps
A story of Mama Joni, a resilient woman in Tana Maraga, Patiala Dete Village, West Sumba
With two woven baskets in front of her, 60 year old Mama Joni sat on the veranda of her house in the village of Tana Maraga, West Sumba. She separated the ripe and dry corn into one basket, and the ground corn in the other. Mama Joni would then boil this staple food in fresh water, to prepare a typical meal for the whole family.
“There’s a corn field on the back of the house. I plant and tend the corn field myself. I may look old, but I’m still working in the field, fetching water, cooking and cleaning the house. We can’t spare able bodies to do nothing in this area; everyone has daily tasks. Sometimes after walking up and down the hill fetching water I feel my legs start to weaken, but it has to be done,” Mama Joni said, as she continued grinding the corn.
As the name of the Village – Tana Maraga – means “land of meadow,” Mama Joni’s house is surrounded by a meadow field. She has turned that into a field for corn, cassava and other vegetables to supply food for her family. Now, in the rainy season, it is beautifully green and lush. Though it won’t be long before nature will reveal its other face, and everything will be brown and dry.
She gave me the honor to see her kitchen, a simple bamboo structure with a traditional stove made from stone. She uses firewood to cook, and just above the stove she hangs stacks of corn to dry. The stock is important, as there are only 45 days of rain per year in this area. This is essentially the only food that will be available in the long dry season, also known as the “hungry season”. It is not enough to fight malnutrition for the young children and pregnant women, but just enough to keep away the worst of the hunger. Mama Joni explains that “vegetables are only available in the city, where it is imported from more fertile areas. But it takes 4 hours walk. Or we would have to spend 2 dollars, to buy 50 cents worth of vegetables. So we can’t do it very often.”
Just as I want to open my mouth to suggest buying in bulk, I look around. It is a very simple kitchen, with the bare minimum to prepare food for the family; a few pans, some plates, one bowl, two large intensely used plastic bins for water storage. Obviously no electricity. So no fridge. So no buying in bulk …
A vegetable garden would make all the difference in the world!