e'Pap inspired - food for art!

A Harare artist has done some fantastic nutrition art.  

Make a Dream Come True

Happy 2014 and e’Pap Zimbabwe wishes you a year of health, success and dreams come true.

There have been some great success stories with people who have been eating e’Pap since we started sales a few months ago….

A young mother having a problem feeding her baby of 6 months started eating e’Pap twice a day to start off with and a week later called excited to report she now has enough milk to feed a village! 

A worker in a church was advised to go home as his health was severely compromised, his medicines were not changed but he was put on to e’Pap - he is now able to return to work. 

An elderly lady from a local old age home called to make sure we knew that her local e'Pap supplier has run out of stock and she was most upset as she needs it for her daily dose of energy! 

It is so rewarding and exciting to hear these stories and reaffirms our commitment to growing the e'Pap revolution.  

You can help to make dreams come true...

 

There are some astonishing individuals, organisations and Non Government Organisations in Zimbabwe committed to helping people to cope with the tragic hunger stalking our nation.  I will be posting regular profiles of some of these organisations going forward.  If you would like to support any of these programmes I am happy to put you in touch direct with the organization or you can work with me to help our people to grow from dependency to independence, to help them realise their dreams. 

FOR ONLY $15 

YOU CAN PROVIDE A CHILD AN E'PAP MEAL 

EVERY DAY OF THE SCHOOL WEEK FOR A FULL SCHOOL TERM!

MARULA SCHOOL

To help support a child at Marula School, please contact Bookey on her e mail: bookey@stonehills.org
 

Bookey Peek has been working with Marula School for several years and her dedication is inspiring.  She runs a conservation club for the children, she and her husband Richard also give as much support as they can to the school despite their hectic lives keeping the game alive on their small farm.  The old adage “if you want something done, ask a busy person” is exemplified by this couple.

Marula Primary School lies 72 km outside Bulawayo, and 44 km from the Botswana Border.   It has a total of 374 pupils – of whom 87 are boarders and 287 day scholars.  

The boarders are relatively well taken care of as they are given regular meals at the school.  However, this is not the case with the day scholars, the parents of whom are mostly farm labourers or unemployed.  

The fees per term per child are $25, plus parents must find money for uniforms, books stationery etc.

Matabeleland is suffering the consequences of the recent second, successive drought.   Despite the recent rains in Zimbabwe, water is always extremely short in the area, and the school borehole dried up some months ago.   Crops have failed, and cattle are starving.  

The school has singled out the fifty most vulnerable children in the school.  Some are being taken care of by a single unemployed parent, and many are AIDS orphans being cared for by relatives, who have little enough food for their own children. These 50 children are the worst affected, but there are many more who need support as well.

Some, like Rejoice below, walk many kilometres to school each day on an empty stomach and at best, can only expect a meal in the evening.  As a result, they often either miss school altogether or arrive mid-morning.

Mrs. Lupahla with some of the orphaned/vulnerable children. 

She is assisted by Janet Gubaguba and Jennifer Nqwababa

The Marula School boarders have begun a Charity Club.  Together with the teachers in charge of the vulnerable and orphaned children –  Sitsheliwe Lupahla, Jennifer Nqwababa and Janet Guvaguva – they visit needy households and assist them with cleaning the yard and fetching water and firewood.

Through the work of one very hard-working lady and her family in the UK, Bookey has managed to raise funds to feed fifty of the most badly affected of these children, but only enough to give them e'Pap once a day in water, and then only during the school term.  These needy children have been benefiting from e'Pap for some months and the teacher in charge, Mrs. Lupahla, has said that one relative reports that a child who lost both parents to AIDS and was beginning to lose her hair (a common sign of malnutrition), is so much better since getting her e’Pap at the school.  The two women at Marula who dish out the e’Pap told us that they have seen a "huge improvement" in the appearance of the kids who are getting it every day - faces shining, cheeks filling out. So, to improve nutrition in Bulawayo and to help with malnutrition in Harare use e'Pap and follow the informative information we supply.

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Here are a few of the children and their stories:

This is Bukhosi Ndlovu, aged around 9 years.  He and his younger sister Thandolwenkosi are AIDS orphans and live with their very elderly and infirm grandmother, who can barely take care of them.  Bukhosi is withdrawn and has learning problems and other challenges.  He often does not speak or answer questions.

Brian Puthi is in Grade 4, and stays with his mother who does not have a job. No other details are  available.  Some parents bring their children to school and explain their problems.  Others, like Brian’s relatives, just send the child with friends or a sibling, leaving the teachers to take care of them as they think fit.

Sitting behind Brian is Bright Moyo – he is in ECD (Kindergarten) and is aged 6.  Again, no details available.

Sharon Ndebele is 10 years old and in Grade four.   Both parents died in 2010, and together with 10 other children, she now lives with her aunt, who is unmarried and unemployed.  She is malnourished.   However, despite this, she still manages to do well in class and is particularly good at maths.  She would like to be a teacher.

Junior Mlotshwa is 7 years old.  Despite his disadvantages, he comes first in class, and often obtains 100% in all subjects.  He would like to be a doctor.  His father died in 2006, and he lives with his mother who is terminally ill, and six other children, three of them also sick.  He walks 4 km to school and back every day.

Norman Dube is in Grade 7 and is 14 years old.   

He has lost both his parents, and an older sibling, who does not have a job, has become head of the family.   

He is a keen member of our wildlife conservation club.