Healthy Kitchens and Cooking for Nutrition

July, 2017 -- Household visits continue to be the best way to transfer knowledge and skills to the women and families in Seeds for a Future's programs. Our local team members -- well-trained in nutrition, hygiene and raising food in backyard farms -- visit frequently, and also use small group meetings, usually at a participating family's home, so women can receive and absorb information in an environment that feels familiar and safe. 

In addition to kitchen and personal hygiene, we also promote other aspects of cleanliness, both inside and outside the home, that contribute to family health.  For example, most families own at least a few chickens, and it is common practice to let them roam freely.  This has a number of consequences:

• It's not very healthful to have chickens and other poultry in the house and yard where babies and children play and where food prep and cooking occur.
• You may never know where the chickens are putting their eggs, so this highly concentrated source of nutrition never makes it to family tummies.
• Dogs and other predators may eat the poultry, which is both a financial and a nutritional loss.
• In the rainy season, chickens that run loose are highly susceptible to diseases and a large percentage die -- more financial and nutritional loss.

Our Seeds for a Future team emphasizes the value of building chicken hutches and demonstrates that the benefits far outweigh the cost, especially since we encourage the use of readily available local materials such as bamboo.  We show how the birds thrive when they can a roost above ground and under a simple protective roof, and also teach how to vaccinate against rain-provoked diseases

Cleaner homes and patios, healthier and more productive chickens, and families getting nutritious eggs to eat -- a win-win strategy!  

To see a short presentation from our June field visit, click the link below.

If it has been some time since your last much-appreciated contribution, I ask you to consider renewing your support so we can continue to help families live cleaner, healthier lives, eat nutritious food for every meal and build self-reliance.  Won’t you reach out again to help these determined families improve their own lives?

Thank you for your generous support!  

Links:

• CHECK OUT Our June Visit to Chocola