FOOD FOR ZION

Tuesday 14 March 2017

In Mali, preschool and super parents help young children flourish

In central Mali, a new preschool is teaching children and parents the benefits of early childhood education, play, healthy eating and hygiene.
SIBY-SIBY, Mopti region, Mali, 6 March 2017 – In the small farming village of Siby-Siby in central Mali, parents don't have a lot of toys for their children to play with at home.
“They make do with what they have... The kids play the drums with calabashes, they count using pebbles, they try to make castles out of the sand. Some parents put holes into a calabash to make an instrument out of it,” says village resident and preschool educator Kadidia Karambe.
One of those innovative parents is Tandou Ouologuem, who is great at improvising games with whatever she has at hand. When her twin sons come home, she plays a simple game of catch with them, using light pebbles. Housseny and Hassana, 4 years old, shriek with delight when they catch one.

Tandou plays a simple game of catch using pebbles with her twins Housseny (centre) and Hassana. When parents bring in sources of stimulation like games, they can pique children's curiosity, giving them an appetite to learn and discover the world around them.

Ever since they turned 3, Housseny and Hassana have been attending the Centre de développement de la petite enfance of Siby-Siby, an early childhood centre supported by H&M Foundation through UNICEF Sweden and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the NGO BorneFonden.
Tandou takes her boys by hand to the centre every morning, leaving them in Kadidia’s capable hands. There, with the help of Kadidia and the other volunteer educators in the centre, they learn the alphabet, numbers and counting, songs and recitations, and the names of different animals and plants. But they also spend time playing on swings and seesaws, and playing with building blocks, cars and other toys – building their social and teamwork skills, while stimulating their cognitive development. They also learn basic skills like handwashing and how to greet people.
At home, Housseny and Hassana show Tandou what they learned and continue learning with her.
“Playing with a kid, you understand them better,” explains Kadidia.

Twins Housseny (right) and Hassana play on a seesaw with Kadidia at the early childhood development centre. With the help of Kadidia and other volunteer educators at the centre, children learn the alphabet, basic numeracy, and the names of different animals and plants.

Better nutrition and health in the home
This part of Mali is famous for its onions. Tandou is one of the farmers that contribute to the region’s impressive production. She also grows tomatoes, lettuce and carrots. But despite her farming skills, before receiving parental education, she wasn’t always sure which types of food were best for her children’s health and growth.
Before, she prepared porridge for her children using several different types of cereals, but she did not add in much protein or ingredients rich in vitamins and minerals. Her newfound knowledge of food groups, learned during the parental education sessions, has helped her improve her recipe. “Now I only put millet and I add in powdered milk, baobab pulp and sugar,” she says.
The simple addition of vitamins, minerals, and proteins can go a long way in preventing child stunting, which affects as much as 26 per cent of all children in Mali. Children who are malnourished are often more tired, listless and less active than their well-nourished peers.

Twins Housseny (left) and Hassana eat enriched porridge prepared by their mother. After attending parental education classes, she started adding vitamins, minerals and protein to the porridge she prepares for her chlidren.

Providing children with balanced, nutritious meals is a first step to ensure healthy energy levels, and bringing in sources of stimulation like games with parents can pique children's curiosity, giving them an appetite to learn and discover the world around them.
The new, enriched porridge is a hit with baby Mariam Samba, and even her twins – who have moved on to the general family diet – still slyly request a little taste of it.
Inspired by the parental education classes, Tandou also started improving the hygiene in her home, including washing and drying the dishes properly to ensure cleanliness. Her children, too, are cleaner: they wash their faces every morning, without their mother having to tell them to do so. These simple gestures of hygiene in the home can go a long way in preventing childhood illnesses like diarrhoea.
“Malaria is common here, as are diarrhoea and respiratory infections,” says Ogotenbelou, a volunteer community health worker in Siby-Siby. “The kids that come here wash their hands before and after eating. There is also more awareness about childhood illnesses: before, parents didn't bring their kids to the health centre if they were sick, but now they do it on the first day.”

Watched by Kadidia (centre) twins Housseny (left) and Hassana play with building blocks and toy cars at the early childhood development centre in Siby-Siby, central Mali.

Increasing enthusiasm for school
Lamine Traoré, the director of the Centre d’Animation Pédagogique that oversees public school structures in the region, applauds the immediate impact the arrival of this type of preschool has had on primary school enrolment.
“It works wonders. We used to go door to door to encourage parents to enrol children in school. The enrolment into first grade has improved since the centres exist. There is a real increase in the enthusiasm of children and parents for school here.”
In Mali, only 5 per cent of children benefit from early childhood development programmes. “One of the consequences of this,” says Fabio Manno, Education Specialist at UNICEF Mali, “is that children often start primary school without any kind of previous knowledge. Increasing opportunities for early learning increases school readiness, meaning children arrive in primary school ready to learn and to do well.”
Back in the centre, Housseny and Hassana play with building blocks and cars with Kadidia. In a year’s time, they will be ready to start primary school. And thanks to their attentive mother and their dedicated volunteer educator, they are equipped to not just start school, but to excel when they get there.

Children in crisis

Umara is assessed for malnutrition at Muna Garage camp for internally displaced persons in north-east Nigeria.After 20 days of therapeutic feeding to treat severe acute malnutrition at a UNICEF-supported clinic, Umara increased his weight from just 4.2kg to 5.1kg

Nearly 50 million children at risk as conflict and disaster engulf 48 countries.

From Syria to Yemen and Iraq, from South Sudan to Nigeria, children are affected by relentless conflicts and displacement crises, as well as devastation wrought by natural disasters. To reach those in greatest need, US$3.3 billion is needed by UNICEF to assist 81 million people in 2017, including 48 million children in 48 countries across the globe. Here are some of these children:

Drought has left Alinafe’s fields barren and her youngest daughter Desire suffering from severe acute malnutrition. (From left) Janet, 10, Kelvin, 8, their mother Alinafe, Desire, 2, and Innocent, 6, eat their daily meal of dried peas at home in Balaka district, Malawi.

After 20 days of therapeutic feeding to treat severe acute malnutrition at a UNICEF-supported clinic, Umara increased his weight from just 4.2kg to 5.1kg. Umara is assessed for malnutrition at Muna Garage camp for internally displaced persons in north-east Nigeria.

Lying on a bed in the Abs hospital in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, five-year-old Mohanned is suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Although Mohanned’s health has been deteriorating for the past two years, his family were unable to afford the cost of bringing him for treatment.

Despite setbacks, more than 300,000 children in South Sudan were provided with access to education in 2016. In the Protection of Civilians site in Malakal, twelve-year-old Chubat (right) sits with her friend in the burnt-out ruins of a UNICEF-supported primary school she attended.

“I thought I was going to die. I thought my family would all die” said Mylove Théogène (right), 8, after hurricane Matthew destroyed her home in Jérémie, Haiti. More than 175,000 people were displaced by the tropical storm and more than 800,000 require life-saving assistance.

[NAMES CHANGED] In Cameroon’s Minawao refugee camp, Nigerian refugee Fati, 15, was reunited with her mother (left) after being freed from Boko Haram captivity and referred to a family reunification service. The conflict has displaced 2.4 million people across the Lake Chad basin region.

Forced to leave home with his family nearly two years ago when his dad was killed by a sniper, eight-year-old Maxim attends a psychotherapeutic centre in eastern Ukraine to help him with his trauma. More than 207,000 children and their caregivers received psychosocial support in 2016.

(Left) Abdulghani, 9, and his brother Hassan, 6, wait to fill jerry cans at a water well in eastern Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic. UNICEF and partners trucked up to 1.5 billion litres of water and delivered more than 4 million litres of fuel to run the pumping stations in the city in 2016.

Rafi, 3, smiles as he sits on a box of winter clothing his family received during a distribution at Kawergosk Syrian Refugee Camp in Erbil Governorate, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In 2016, some 300,000 children across Iraq received warm winter clothing from UNICEF.

“All children should be with their parents,” said Nyaruot, 14, after receiving the news that she and her sisters Nyaliep, 3, (centre) and Nyachan, 11, (right) would be reunited with their mother after conflict forced them apart, in the Bor Protection of Civilians site, South Sudan.

Learning on the go: UNICEF’s Mobile Kindy Programme in Fiji

“Goodbye, see you tomorrow!,” shouts Teacher Arara as she closes the lock of the white picket fence and waves goodbye to the last few pre-schoolers getting into their cars with their parents. It is 12:30 in the afternoon and the day quiets down after the usual flurry of morning play and activity at Little Ones Learning Centre in Suva, Fiji.

Located atop a hill in Tamavua area, Little Ones is one of the city’s leading private preschools and boasts highly-trained teachers and well-resourced classrooms.

Teacher Arara looks out onto the view and enjoys the fresh breeze, but the lull is short-lived. Soon after, she hustles towards the school’s storeroom, counting sheets of paper, packing tubs of paints and brushes, sorting Lego blocks and puzzles, identifying storybooks, and stuffing all of these materials into a big silver metal container — a UNICEF kindergarten-in-a-box kit.

A taxi is hailed and Teacher Arara hauls the case, along with several jugs of water, into the boot. She gets into the taxi and bids the driver to head to Teroro settlement, a few miles from Little Ones. She is off to her next kindergarten class for the day.

Teachers loading the mobile kindy materials onto a taxi. (UNICEF Pacific/ 2016/ Forsyth)

Teacher Arara arrives at Teroro greeted by a bunch of beaming young faces eager to help their teacher. They manage to take the metal case and gingerly walk it down the meandering concrete stairs from the road downhill into the community.

They stop right in the centre of the settlement, in a patio propped up by wooden slabs and tarpaulin, bordered by temporary houses, but looking out on an open side to the greenery of Suva’s hills.

Teacher Arara gathers the children and begins her lessons, unloading materials out of her silver container as needed.

The activities at this makeshift kindergarten are similar to those at Little Ones — play-based learning activities so that children can see, touch, and interact with materials as they learn to control their motor skills, make connections between concrete objects and ideas, and socialize with peers.

The class is clearly a pared-down version of a typical preschool — in fact there are no tables and chairs — but there are enough basic materials to stimulate learning. The class sings rhymes, recites the alphabet, and completes classroom routines, exposing the young children to the type of organised learning that occurs in primary school. The children also enjoy free and healthy snacks — milk, sandwiches, fruit and vegetable sticks — which have become an undeniable draw for the children and their parents.

The mobile kindy set-up at a temporary settlement in Suva. (UNICEF Pacific/ 2016/ Forsyth)

The class at the Teroro settlement is part of the Mobile Kindy project which provides early childhood care and education (ECCE) services in hard-to-reach communities in Suva, Fiji. These areas are often informal settlements where most families lack access to many social services, including ECCE centres.

By bringing mobile learning environments to these areas, young children are able to attend some form of preschool, gain critical cognitive and socio-emotional skills, and become better prepared to enter formal schooling.

Since the activities are within the community, parents, mostly mothers, are also able to drop in and get exposed to simple but effective learning activities for children. The parents also receive other forms of support, as mobile kindy staff connect them to public services like health programmes, birth registration, and social welfare agencies.

Mobile Kindy, short for mobile kindergartens, is a partnership between UNICEF and the Little Ones Learning Centre. UNICEF provides funding, oversight and technical assistance, while Little Ones is the main implementer of the programme. In 2016 alone, the mobile kindy has provided education to 300 children in six sites and have referred many families to other public welfare programmes. In addition, following Cyclone Winston, the mobile kindy has gone to affected communities, reaching 138 children in 9 communities so far.

Teacher Arara introducing young students to new skills. (UNICEF Pacific/ 2016)

Analesi Tuicaumia, director of Little Ones and the Mobile Kindy programme, is proud of what has been achieved to date. She credits the support of UNICEF for emboldening her team to grow the number of sites and to think creatively about resourcing high-quality learning materials.

She shares a recent incident during the entrance exams of a major primary school in Suva. There were two applicants — one from Little Ones and the other from a mobile kindy. Analesi exclaims, “The teacher cannot tell the difference — who is from Little Ones and who is from the mobile kindy! They both did so well.”

On December 8, 2016, the Mobile Kindy held its graduation of its 4th round of students — 31 young children from across all mobile kindy sites who are advancing to Class 1 in primary school. The Assistant Minister of Health, Honourable Alexander O’Connor was chief guest at the ceremony. He cited the importance of establishing health, nutrition and hygiene habits in the early years and acknowledged how this was being fulfilled in the mobile kindys. He added, “Optimizing the early years of children’s lives is the best investment we can make as a society in ensuring their future success.”

Mobile Kindy Graduation last December 8, 2016 at the My Suva Park, with 31 students from the mobile kindergarten awarded certificates of recognition to move on to Class 1 in Primary School. Photo taken by Joy Millan.

At the graduation ceremony, Teacher Arara seems happy but also tired. She explains that December will finally give her the chance for a longer break, although she quickly retorts, “And next year, we start all over again!”

UNICEF Pacific promotes the rights and well-being of every child, in everything we do — maternal and child health, nutrition, HIV and AIDS, child protection, education, water, sanitation and hygiene as well as policy, advocacy, communication for development, planning and evaluation. Our multi-country programme and office located in Fiji covers the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Experts: African Hunger Crisis Largely Man-made

Residents of Ntuzuma collect water from a truck after cuts in water supply were made due to persistent drought conditions, in Durban, South Africa, Jan. 22, 2017.

This year, more so than usual, hunger is stalking Africa. The United Nations has declared a famine in parts of South Sudan and food insecurity is affecting tens of millions in nearly every geographic region of the continent.
The causes vary, as do the proposed solutions. But, experts say the worst crises are being fueled by war.
“Drought is an exacerbating factor in some contexts but conflict is really, really the major driver in the biggest emergencies,” said Chris Hillbruner, a senior official for the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).
“Drought can result in really severe food insecurity but usually, even when you have a severe drought, there's an opportunity for recovery that starts with the next rainy season," he said. "The challenge with conflict is that the conflict persists and persists and persists in many of these cases and so there's little relief for the people.”

FILE - Agop Manut (11 months), who suffers acute malnutrition and respiratory distress, is assisted at the clinic run by Doctors without Borders (MSF) in Aweil, Northern Bahr al Ghazal, South Sudan, Oct. 11, 2016.

The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death in just four countries: Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. All four are in the midst of civil wars or insurgencies.
“Our first call and our first priority is for the warring parties in all these countries to give us the access that we need to reach those children,” said Najwa Mekki, spokeswoman for UNICEF.
UNICEF has 600 therapeutic feeding centers in South Sudan, but much of the affected population is unable to reach them. “Children are dying and we need to get to them soon and we need to get to them as fast as possible to be able to save lives,” Mekki said.
Wide-ranging threat
The number at risk on the continent stretches well beyond the countries identified by UNICEF. The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) reports that 12 million people living in the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa are now dependent on food aid.
By all accounts, low rainfall caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon plays a significant role in the crisis. In Mozambique, aid organizations told VOA Portuguese that Tete and Gaza provinces are experiencing a prolonged drought and people have used up all the food they had saved.
In Ethiopia, farmers in the Borena zone told VOA Amharic that their cattle are emaciated and they are having a hard time selling them to buy food. Farmer Guyu Halake said cows that sold for about $440 before the drought are now sold for $17.
Another farmer, Fekadu Jeldeta, said if assistance is delayed, the current drought will shift from affecting livestock to costing the lives of people.

Goats with ribs showing crowd around a trough of well water in Somaliland region of Somalia, which is experiencing a devastating drought, on Feb. 9, 2017. (VOA/Jason Patinkin)

In Somalia, WFP said it is seeing warning signals similar to those seen in 2011, when drought and famine killed an estimated 260,000 people.
In Baidoa, VOA Somali spoke to Muslimo Abdi Abikar, a mother of nine who said she used to have a herd of livestock, including camels, goats and cows. Today, only two goats and a few camels remain, she said, and even the survivors are weak.
But observers say armed conflict plays an equal if not greater role in the hunger crisis. The threat of violence prevents farmers from planting or harvesting crops and prevents food trucks from reaching markets. If a government doesn't act, it can take only a couple of months for food to become scarce in a particular area, triggering inflation.
In the Somali town of Las’anod, a grocer reported that, within one week, the cost of vegetables nearly doubled. A kilogram of tomatoes, for instance, spiked from $29 to $48.
What is a crisis?
Data such as this is used by FEWS NET to determine how to classify the level of food security across the continent, said Hillbruner. To do this, FEWS NET uses two key tools.
The first tool is called the Integrated Phase Classification, which examines a variety of indicators to determine how severe a food crisis is on a five-tier scale, ranging from minimal problems to humanitarian catastrophe.
The second tool is called "scenario development," which allows analysts to forecast how food availability might improve or deteriorate in the near future.
“We look at how people access food and income in a typical year and then we look at whether or not there will be any shocks during the coming months," Hillbruner says. "What is the forecast for rainfall? What do we expect is going to happen with food prices? Is there conflict occurring?"
Recently, FEWS NET warned that South Sudan could soon reach IPC Phase 5, the highest level on the scale. Phase 5 is defined as a famine marked by high levels of excess mortality. The group warned that Unity State in the north of the country is facing the most extreme lack of food.
Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said the latest food crises, particularly those in South Sudan and northeast Nigeria, show that famines may have climactic roots, but are made worse by man-made factors.
“The difference between the natural factors which create a challenge and then the actual outcome of famine is usually a human-made response or the lack thereof,” he said. “And I think that's what we're looking at today."

Wednesday 1 June 2016

FOOD FOR ZION FOUNDATION; VISION AND PURPOSE

FOOD FOR ZION FOUNDATION

VISION AND PURPOSE

Making the poor/oppressed wealthy is not the sole solution to their problem of poverty. The message of the kingdom of God needs to be revealed to them through words and in deeds.

Food for Zion ( FZ ) is a non profitable organization that represents Christ and seeks out to reach to the society by preaching the Gospel, providing daily meals and other items to those in need.
This vision is fulfilling the scripture Hebrews 12: 22, Isaiah 51:3, 11, 16, Joel 2:32.

In Food for Zion, we are fully aware the we are God's co-workers, 1st Corinthians 3:9.
We have been bestowed with the gift of helping others, Romans 12:8.

Just providing food and money is not merely enough, but by teaching them their rightful place in the Kingdom of God, this shift in paradigm will shut the door of poverty and ignorance forever. Praise God!
Food for Zion also aims at equipping these people with entrepreneurship skills and setting them on their feet.
They will be taught on how to invest and deal wisely. FZ will organize seminars where they will be educated on their finances. A rehabilitation center will be built for empowerment of the youths and elderly so they can develop their skills, while the young will be catered for.

Food for Zion is a vision that was birthed in the year 2015 by individuals with a passion for Kingdom advancement. This vision will spread across the Nations with the Good news of The kingdom of God and Grace of Our Lord Jesus.