"The one thing all children have in common is their rights. Every child has the right to survive and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard. "
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
If only we could be celebrating a world where we were guaranteed that all children were receiving education, that they did not know the horror of violence and abuse and could participate freely and be heard.
e'Pap is not just about selling food and making a profit, the overriding ethic of this organisation is to ensure that all people, and especially children, are enabled to grow, develop, learn and thrive with the critical foundation of a nutrient replete diet.
Today, and every day we at e'Pap celebrate children. But today is also a day to recognise and galvanise, the drought is real and affecting most of southern Zimbabwe and beyond. Binga has always been ravaged by poverty and this is highlighted by VOA's report from the 18th November...
"The
Ministry of Education recently reported that the number of school dropouts in
the country is alarming as parents struggle to raise fees due to poverty.But in
remote Binga district, Matabeleland North, parents say it is not only about
school fees but hunger that has forced the majority of school-going children to
pull out of school.
Speaking to
Studio 7 in Muchesu, which is about 80 kilometres from Binga town, parents said
the current drought in the area has forced their children to stay at home."
"Idah
Sibanda, who has two school-going children that had to travel about seven
kilometers to get to school, said she was forced to stop them from attending
classes at Muchesu Primary School as they had no energy to walk to school and
participate in classes.
“Here in
Binga we have a big problem, that of the drought. We do not have food to feed
our children and now they can no longer go to school because of the hunger.
Last year we had too little rainfall and we did not harvest anything and our
children do not have food,” said Sibanda."
Filling bellies with sterile carbohydrate will keep children alive, but what about the "Hidden Hunger"? Without their micronutrients children will never reach their potential. For as little as $2 a month children under the age of 6 can be helped with a bowl a day of e'Pap at school.
If only we could give every child the right nutrition every day.
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