Ngara, TZ – School breakfast update – 1 Aug 2013

Since July 2011 SODA Trust has been providing breakfast for three schools in Ngara, Tanzania.  The breakfast served is a porridge made with nutritious flour that consists of corn/maize, soy beans, and peanuts/groundnuts.  The program currently feeds 2,166 students, 30 teachers, and 7 cooks every school day!  The breakfast has led to improved academic performance in all three schools as well as reduced number of absentees.  In order to move the program in the direction of sustainability, the parents have been asked to start providing ingredients for the breakfast.  Since the end of July, the parents of one school have already contributed 70kgs of maize.  Also, the schools have also started to grow soybeans, although they have received mediocre harvests so far.  They have been in touch with the local agriculture expert whom is scheduled to come give advice for the next harvesting season.  The students have enjoyed learning how to farm and are excited to start growing soy beans again.

Cooking nutritious porridge

In May 2013, the schools were given support to build rain water harvesting tanks to collect water for the long dry season.  Unfortunately, the water did not last the entire dry season and students had to go back to carrying water from long distances.  The water issue is being discussed between the teachers, parents, and SODA Trust to propose the next steps towards solving this solution.