It's Hard to Learn When You're Hungry!

Pizz school is one of the schools in the southern part of Zambia which is running the program of providing lunches to orphaned and vulnerable children during term time. The school is located in Monze town about 1 kilometre from the main Livingstone Road, with a total number of 581 children (286 boys and 295 girls) from early childhood class to grade 9 (lower secondary).

In order to improve health, education and nutrition amongst the school children, Pizz school provides a daily lunch. The main type of the food which Pizz is offering to the children through the help of HANDS AROUND THE WORLD is a mixture of maize bran and pounded groundnuts. The maize bran comes from corn or maize.

The nutritional benefits of these lunches include healthy fats, protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. In fact, there are many benefits to providing lunches:

The school feeding program has been defined by the Project as “a targeted social safety net” that provides both educational and health benefits to the most vulnerable children, thereby increasing enrolment rates, reducing absenteeism and improving academic performance.

During the year the school faced a number of challenges:

When schools were closed, a number of children had no food at home. This was caused by the covid-19 virus which led to the closure of schools. But we are thanking Hands Around The World for supporting the project with extra food to distribute to such families.

There are a number of pupils who are living with HIV/AIDS and for these children having lunches at school it is not enough. It is advisable for these children not to take their medication on an empty stomach. We are glad and happy that with the help of Hands Arounds The World, we are able to provide extra food to 30 children who are living in this condition.

Summary and Conclusion

Feeding is important because it has the potential to improve the health of children at school. The food is offered to all the children at Pizz.

Every day, a number of children at Pizz come to school on an empty stomach. Before the feeding program was in place, hunger was affecting their concentration and ability to learn and a number of children—particularly girls- were not coming to school because their families needed them to help sell items in the streets and perform domestic duties at home and this was resulting in early marriages, sexual abuse and early pregnancies.

Outcomes of the feeding program

The feeding program plays a key role in helping children realise their potential, both for themselves and for their communities. Investing in the development of children is among the most effective and productive investments that communities can make.

School health and nutrition, including school meals, provides an incentive for families to send girls back to school, it helps girls and boys stay in school, especially into adolescence, effectively preventing early marriage early pregnancy and child abuse. This could be physical abuse, mental and emotional abuse and sexual abuse and all these types of abuses are reduced through your help.

Let me end on thanking you on behalf of Pizz School… thank you, supporters of HANDS AROUND THE WORLD, for the great and important role which you are playing in Pizz school by providing lunch to 581 children - we are highly appreciating your efforts in working together with your partners. Your help goes a long way and it has made a great impact in Monze community and in southern Province, Zambia.