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“Thanksgiving” for Vietnam School Feeding Program
Written by
Jacki Flowers
, Special to RedCross.org
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 — A bright smile spread across the face of Irene Abdou, Asia/Pacific Program Lead, as she sat at desk at American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., reading an appreciation letter from an elementary school student in Vietnam.
These are two of the 200,000 schoolchildren benefiting from the Vietnam Education and Child Nutrition Initiative. |
I like drinking soymilk and eating biscuits very much. I gained weight and studied much better. I like to go to school now.
I would like to thank the donor, the American people, and the Red Cross with my deepest gratitude.
Halfway around the world, this young student is one of more than 200,000 schoolchildren, siblings and parents benefiting from the Vietnam Education and Child Nutrition Initiative. At a time of year when many Americans count their blessings, thousands in Vietnam are expressing thanksgiving as well – for the ongoing work of the American Red Cross.
In September 2004, the American Red Cross and Vietnam Red Cross began the initiative, designed to reach nearly 51,000 primary school children and 150,000 of their family members. Made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the International Food for Education and Child Nutrition program, it is a unique effort to improve the health and school performance of children in mostly rural parts of Vietnam.
”Currently, about half of primary school-age children in Vietnam are malnourished,” said Abdou. “A third of their siblings under five are malnourished. The health and well-being of children are compromised by poor nutrition, unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation, particularly in rural areas."
The Vietnam Education and Child Nutrition Initiative consists of daily in-school feeding of a supplemental snack of soymilk and a vitamin-fortified biscuit (selected for its cultural appropriateness and nutritional impact), take-home food rations for students’ families and school and community health education, including training for teachers, parents and the Vietnam Red Cross, the implementing partner of the program.
"School feeding is certainly a central component of this program," said Erika Lutz, program manager in Vietnam. "But this initiative integrates many aspects--training, health and hygiene promotion, and others--that attempt to improve the academic performance of school children and the overall health of communities with a holistic approach."
A pilot project in the spring of 2004 saw almost 5,000 students in Vietnam receiving in-school rations of soymilk and biscuits over the course of one month, and an improvement in the health of students.
"One month is a short-period of time to explicitly link increased weight gain and reduction in malnutrition solely with the feeding rations," said Lutz. "But we're extremely encouraged by the number of students who expressed feelings of increased mental well-being and excitement about attending school."
Parents have taken a very active role in the implementation of this program – more than 40,000 parents have contributed to improving school infrastructure with activities such as installing systems to provide clean water and trash elimination, purchasing basins and towels for handwashing, distributing food rations and taking an active role in promoting key health and hygiene practices.
A recent distribution of school chests from the American Red Cross, containing school supplies such as pencils, paper, and playtime items like jump ropes, brought smiles to the faces of students in 25 schools in the Quang Binh school district.. |
"This project makes parents feel secure to send their children to school and to ensure the high attendance rate of students at school," said one parent in the Truong Son Commune.
In Quang Binh, where implementation of the program was in jeopardy because schools lacked adequate storage areas necessary to keep the soymilk and biscuits for school feeding, parents and community leaders came together in an incredible showing of support for the program and raised nearly half of the money needed to upgrade school food storage facilities.
"This is an amazing feat – it just shows how despite limited resources in impoverished, rural areas of the country, communities aren't discouraged and mobilize to take charge of the education of their children and the health of their families," said Tim McCully, director of the programs of the Asia/Pacific region at the American Red Cross.
Teachers and school administrators have also played a major role in the success of the project, Lutz said. This program has provided training for more than 1,700 teachers on worm disease prevention and control, as well as knowledge in effective hygiene practices, food safety and preparation and growth monitoring of their students.
Handwashing with soap and clean water before and after eating is a message that can never be emphasized too much, said Lutz.
"It's one of the most basic and most effective ways of preventing the spread of illness."
The beneficiary students of the program will see these and other healthy behavior messages on the snacks they consume in school. In addition, schools earn a modest profit from selling the food boxes and are using these proceeds to purchase soap for use in schools.
"The Vietnam Education and Child Nutrition Initiative is truly a holistic, comprehensive partnership of the American and Vietnam Red Cross societies, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the generous American and Vietnamese people," said McCully.
An administrator of the Tuong Son school helped to sum up the positive effects the program has brought to his community. "We can see the project values appear in the happy eyes and brilliant smiles of teachers and pupils, in the physical change, in the [improved] skill and in the pink cheeks of all pupils," he said.
"This present of the American Red Cross, through the implementation of the Vietnam Red Cross, is invaluable."
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