Economic security
Education
Food & water
Girl
In the school’s first month, we recognized undernourished students couldn’t stay awake or focus, and displayed mental dullness, lethargy and exhaustion due to hunger. This was quickly remedied with the addition of a meal program, resulting in alert students, who were engaged and able to develop intellectually.
Girls enrolled in CW Primary school during the school year.
Estimated girls & women affected
110
the 110 students, 230 women (above) and about 50 fathers witnessed the improved health that good nutrition gave the students.
Estimated community members affected
390
Last March 2014 at the beginning of the Peruvian school year and just after the annual medical exam for all students, we added a nutritious hot meal program in response to the poor health noted of our students upon returning to school. Summer vacation at home and the extreme poverty of their family equals very poor nutrition. Severe anemia was found in 1/3 of our students and borderline anemia in the rest, explaining their lethargy, and lack of focus. We not only increased the animal protein in every meal, added vitamins and more vegetables, we planted a garden and small animal production to help support this new improved program. We added hot oatmeal for all students upon arrival to school as well. In three months all of our students were on the mend - their attention, focus, enthusiasm and curiosity was noticeably improved. Poverty at home means that for many of our students these are the only meals they receive every day. Herbal tea and bread at home is does not qualify as a nutritious meal. The school year has ended and our students did well in school because of the meal program you provided. We must continue this program every year to ensure the girls will maintain good health and succeed in school.
Get personal
“Uneducated girls are at constant risk of hunger, abuse, early motherhood and lifelong poverty. Education with school meals = sharp minds, and a future with unlimited opportunity” – Rae Lewis
Risks and challenges
The discovery of anemia and more severe malnutrition than past years has shown us that we must continue to include ingredients of the greatest nutritional value for our daily hot meal for all students. The increased cost has prompted us to create a garden to grow more vegetables and raise small animals for the highest protein impact. The extreme weather of this region will require that we build a greenhouse to be able to grow more variety of food year round and build animal pens and shelter for the protein rich guinea pigs and sheep we must raise. We plan to incorporate this garden and animal raising program into a learning experience for the students to see what is required in terms of ingredients to maintain good health.
What we’ve learned
We have learned that the majority of the uneducated families of our rural community do not understand what constitutes a nutritious meal and the importance of a balanced and nutritious diet to maintain good health. The dietary custom of the poor is a daily watery soup, herbal tea and bread and are the only main meals the poor can provide. Some cannot provide even that. With no social services to aid them, Chicuchas Wasi has discovered that our meal program is essential to maintain the health of our students and thus be able to achieve the CW goals of education, empowerment and economic independence for them and their families.
Next steps
We are focused on the building a greenhouse and animal pens we need to construct as soon as possible to provide quality high protein ingredients for our meal preparation for the next school year that begins in March 2015. We are creating a project to raise the funding we will need for this project on Catapult asap.
Budget
The increased cost of adding more animal protein to the daily meals, and adding all of the students in the oatmeal breakfast raised the cost of the ingredients. Traditionally guinea pig is cooked on an open fire and larger animal meat is cooked outdoors with wood or animal dung, thus decreased the amount of propane gas normally used. We plan to raise animals to help with the cost of the protein needed to maintain the good health of our students
|
Line Items |
Projected budget |
Amount spent so far |
|
Food ingredients Salary - 2 cooks Propane Gas Total |
$6,857 $9,818 $1,500 $18,175 |
$9,407 $9,872 $867 $20,146 |
More information
Our annual meal budget ran over as we expected it would after the annual health exam at the start of the school year last March. The blood analysis results were not good for most of the students and we plan to continue our high protein meals every school year to help the family burden and to ensure school attendance of our students.
Further reading
http://sonoma.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2013/10/news/adventure-to-the-andes-inspires-decades-of-change/ https://www.facebook.com/chicuchaswasi http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/68-0188327/chicuchas-wasi.aspx http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/chicuchas-wasi/
Essential nutrition grows minds that can learn
October 17, 2014
Progress
Thanks to your support, we’ve received funding for our nutritious meal program for the school years of 2014 and 2015! We are providing high protein meals daily to 105 students and have improved the widespread anemia we discovered at the beginning of the 2014 school year, in March. We have put aside the funding from this campaign for the start of the 2015 school year - in the spring of 2015.
The marked improvement in the attention span and alertness of our students is due to our meal program. The poverty of their families leads to the fact that many girls suffer from ongoing malnutrition with long term consequences. Next March, when school starts again, we will be prepared with the high protein meal program to keep our students healthy and able to learn.
Risks and challenges
The soggy wet weather greatly affects the growing of the foods that our girls need in their diet. It was a shocking discovery that one out of three of our students had severe anemia, while many others were also anemic. We realize this will be an ongoing issue, as the causes are prevalent. To combat this we have started a garden and plan to add a greenhouse with animal production for protein. This will help to offset the increased costs of the much needed, high protein diet for all of our 105 students. We are grateful for your support, which will run next year's meal program, and we are assured that we can satisfy the nutritional needs of our girls. We will make the school garden and animal program a part of the experiential learning process about nutritional food production for family tables.
Get personal
The entire staff expresses relief that we are able to do something about the nutrition of our students. Everyone jumped in to come up with the most economical protein source needed. Teachers have commented that the attention and participation of students have greatly improved since March, when the widespread anemia was discovered.
Next steps
The funds you have provided for this second meal project are set aside for the next school year that will begin in March 2015. We will have a garden providing additional food products to help stretch the budget with the added protein. Thanks to your support, we will be albe to provide a school meal program for the entire school year, for all of our students.
Budget
The funds of $18,175 were raised to provide a nutritious hot meal for every student daily. These funds are being held for the beginning of the school year that begins March of 2015 and ends in December, in Peru. We will not touch these funds for any other use in the meantime. The previous funding is providing for school year 2014.
|
Line Items |
Original budget |
Amount spent so far |
|
2015 school year meal program |
$18,175 |
$0 |
More information
Thank you for helping us to provide this very important meal program so that our girls will have a chance in life. They have already faced many, many setbacks in their young lives, and malnutrition would have made these challenges permanent. You have given girls the opportunity to thrive - physically, mentally, and economically.
Further reading
https://www.facebook.com/chicuchaswasi
http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/68-0188327/chicuchas-wasi.aspx
Education is the most promising way out of poverty, hunger, inequality and oppression for future generations of women.
Why we care: Uneducated girls are at constant risk of hunger, abuse, early motherhood and lifelong poverty. Education with school meals = sharp minds.
How we are solving this: Our school provides 100 girls with free primary education, including daily hot nutritious meals to awaken hungry minds and allow girls to learn.
For our students, going to school is the impossible dream that most poor girls abandon early.
"Only boys are smart enough to go to school."
Chicuchas Wasi Free School for Girls was created for indigenous girls in Cusco, Peru. With good nutrition, our students are enthusiastic and focused learners and recognize that education is the path to pursue opportunities that their mothers and grandmothers were denied. Educated girls will educate their families and communities and become future leaders for gender equality in their society.
But first, hunger must be addressed. We need your help!
Our students are born into stark poverty and most lack basic services and adequate food. Hunger is a daily companion for them and they believe they are destined to suffer a life of poverty, abuse and oppression.
In the school’s first month, we recognized undernourished students couldn’t stay awake or focus, and displayed mental dullness, lethargy and exhaustion due to hunger. This was quickly remedied with the addition of a meal program, resulting in alert students, who were engaged and able to develop intellectually.
Education will lift girls out of poverty, but full bellies are needed for sharp minds and healthy bodies. Your financial help will provide the following school meal program for 100 students across the 2014 school year:
- Hot nutritious oatmeal drink and bread upon arrival to school
- Hot nutritious meal includes: meat, vegetables, legumes, milk and more
These meals are prepared in our fully equipped school kitchen by two cooks and served in the school’s dining room in two shifts.
