In 2017, HEAL’s Coordinator for Widow’s Outreach, named Dorothy, brought Deacon Leo and I to her home village of Ekwe to show us the squalid conditions many of her people were suffering there.
We encountered a widow named Ijioma and two of her children, whom I discerned just by sight were malnourished. I still regret that, at the time, we had nothing to give them due to lack of funds and other commitments.
Malnutrition has several causes and various dire consequences. Every year about 500,000 Nigerian children under age five die tragically of malnutrition.1 Meanwhile, 37% of children under age five suffer stunted growth and 18% suffer from wasting (low weight for height).2
To fend off the spectre of malnourishment, Deacon Leo works to provide BOMCA and MENPS children with a nutritious diet. For protein, poultry is as common a source in Nigeria as it is elsewhere. “I’m told the children need about 25-35 grams of protein every day,” says Leo.
Birds are bought alive at local markets, making the food preparation an experience most Americans wouldn’t recognize. “We try to make the slaughtering process as humane as possible and then proceed to pull of the feathers from the birds”, explains Sr. Racheal Ulor, Superior Delegate of the Messengers of Justice.
The children are happy when poultry is served, but they wish it was more often. “Poultry was on the menu twice a week, but we had to cut back to once a week because of the cost,” said Sr. Racheal.
Besides eating right, the children are also learning about nutrition.
JSS-2 student, Diho Miracle, knows the benefits of a proper diet. “Our Home Economics teacher, Ms. Oyinyechi, tells us a balanced diet helps prevent diseases such as Kwashiorkor, Rickets, and Berberi”, he says.
In forming Servant Leaders, HEAL must form strong and healthy bodies as well as minds and souls! Help us cover for our food costs which represent the largest portion of our annual budget.
Footnotes:
1. Federal Government of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics, “2018 National Nutrition and Health Survey,” p. 12.
2. Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings, “Ending Rural Hunger – The Case of Nigeria,” October 2017, pp. 17-18.