Breakfast for Kindergarten schoolgirls in Pakistan

Hello from the Breakfast Programme!

Our project has been led by our non-profit staff at the school so far, but starting this term in August the responsibility has been assigned to one of the senior school teachers, Shazia Akbar Ali. We have been pleased with Shazia’s hard work and commitment to the children and the school and hope that this new role will give her greater ownership of a project she helped start. Here’s a message from her in her own words:

My name is Shazia and I’m a kindergarten teacher at the SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls School. I have been working in this school for 17 years. There are many students from very low-income families studying in this school. A few years ago when I used to see the children in kindergarten who appeared to be ill or slow it would inevitably turn out that they had come to school without having breakfast. Encountering such a child would be painful and I would usually buy them biscuits or something. When I told Miss Rafia about these children, she started a breakfast programme for them.

In the beginning, there were 50 students in kindergarten. That number has now grown to almost 300 children, all of whom are given a breakfast of fruit, noodles, milk and a slice of bread, etc. I consider this to be a complete breakfast and feel that the KG children stay healthy and are more happily focused on their studies now.

I am sharing some pictures of a new breakfast room that we have added to accommodate the larger class size. You can see that some of our students like apples and milk more than others. J

I pray for the entire staff of Zindagi Trust who work with heart, passion and happiness for these poor children and hope God gives them all strength and happiness. I would also like to thank all of you donors for your continued support – none of this would be possible without you!

Hello,

A big thank you for your continued support. I hope you are enjoying the summer.

Since you last heard from us, the number of smiles in our school has grown! The student strength in the two kindergarten levels has increased to 310 with admissions this year taking in a bigger class. We're looking forward to nurturing a bigger class and introducing them to fun courses in art & craft, PE and mind sports. 

An increase in food costs has resulted in a change in our menu and budget for the next year. This, along with the increase in our class size means our overall costs have increased overall. The following is a break-up of the Average Monthly Cost of the Breakfast Programme:

Item | Cost in Pakistani Rupees | Cost in US $

Milk (26 Cartons of 12 Pkt each) Rs. 21,996 | $232.76

Rooh Afza (Rose-flavouring for milk) Rs. 1,280 | $13.54

Fruits Rs. 3,600 | $38.10

Eggs Rs. 5,500 | $58.20

Bread Rs. 1,560 | $16.51

Butter Rs. 1,500 | $15.87

Potatoes Rs. 525 | $5.55

Ketchup Rs. 160 | $1.69

Cooking Oil Rs. 175 | $1.85

Salt Rs. 20 | $0.21

Black Pepper Rs. 120 | $1.27

Clove Rs. 110 | $1.16

Tissue Paper Rs. 440 | $4.66

Garbage Bags Rs. 1,900 | $20.10

Dishwashing Soap Rs. 100 | $1.06

We hope that you will continue to support our breakfast programme. Your donations make it possible for us to keep our little stars energized enough to take on the challenges of a fun-filled education!

Links:

• Zindagi Trust Homepage

Hello,

Thank you for your continued support. 

Self-service

 Last time we told you about introducing the concept of "self-service" to our students at breakfast, which involved them picking up their plates and food and taking them to their seats themselves. As the students have grown bigger and stronger through the course of our nutrition enhancement programme, we have expanded on the self-service aspect so that the children now line up and walk to the breakfast room from their lesson area, pick up their breakfast themselves and once finished take their plates and cups back to the counter, all on their own. They are supervised by two kindergarten teachers throughout the exercise, but they have become independent, confident and disciplined enough to do all this mostly without needing to be prompted.

Menu updates

 Pasta has been added to the menu and the children are really enjoying it as a hearty meal in the morning. The menu now includes: bread with jam and butter, boiled eggs, milk, seasonal fruits and cooked noodles. We are also happy to report that the children are now drinking more milk, possibly because they are liking it (rosewater-flavoured milk is their favourite) or their development has boosted their appetite!

Meet the students

We wanted to bring you the student perspective on the breakfast programme so we picked some kindergarten students at random and asked them what they thought of the breakfast "class" with which they start every day at school. The popular opinion was that the breakfast at school was a success with the students because there is a good variety of food for the children to pick from.

Bakhtawar, a student of KG 1, said she liked the eggs, milk and fruits served at the school breakfast, since she did not get a chance to eat them at home. Zunaira, another student from KG 1, said she loved the sandwiches from the school breakfast.

Get in touch

Links:

• http://www.zindagitrust.org

Self Service and other changes to the Breakfast Programme

After the admission of some new students in mid-November, the daily breakfast programme for kindergarten students at the SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls School has grown to support 231 students from KG 1 and KG2. As a result of the increase in student strength along with inflationary pressure in recent weeks the cost of the programme has increased to around Rs. 16,000 per week.

The major expenditure on the breakfast programme consists of milk and eggs:

Milk: Rs. 2756 @ Rs. 800 per carton

Eggs: 13 dozen @ Rs 90-95 per dozen

As always, the breakfast menu includes milk, flavoured with Rooh-Afza (a local rosewater flavouring), and fresh fruit/vegetables/eggs etc. depending upon the season. The current menu has been winter-ized and boiled eggs are back, which the children really enjoy in the chilly mornings. Other items that make an appearance on the menu include apples, bananas, bread and butter, boiled potatoes and hot noodles.

The breakfast programme has had a positive impact on the health of the young students. Where previously we saw kids passing from weakness or malnourishment and reporting to the health room, the school nurse reports that the incidence has decreased since the advent of the breakfast programme. She also reports that allergies and fever complaints have reduced, indicating that the nourishment at the start of the day helps to prevent children from catching infection from each other.

Recently, a self-service initiative was started in the Breakfast Program to have the students serve themselves. This helped them learn the concept of waiting their turn in line in a disciplined yet friendly atmosphere. The little children, who were previously helped with every little step from being given a filled plate to being sat in their chairs, are really enjoying this new independence. They walk into the breakfast room, pick up their breakfast from the counter, carry it to their seats and clear their tables after they are done and they enjoy performing each of these steps on their own with lots of energy and excitement. This added spring in their steps at the start of the school day goes a long way!

They also learn basic dining etiquette as well as the importance of good and timely nutrition. They have also been taught to make it a habit to thank God before and after their meal. Most of these things sound pretty basic, but many of these children had never used a napkin while eating and had no idea that used tissue paper, for example, needed to be binned properly in a trash can, so teaching them these little things from an early age has become an important part of the breakfast programme.

Links:

• Breakfast Programme on Zindagi Trust website

Zindagi Trust so appreciates the contribution of its donors, well wishers & supporters for making the breakfast program successful. It is all because of them that we are engaged in making the breakfast time the most fun time for our children. Your generosity in providing nutritious breakfast to children is directly benefiting their health. It has been observed during yearly check-ups of children that school breakfast is linked to positive health outcomes of children, including healthy body weight.
 
Parents, teachers and the Principal have positive reviews for the program and parents’ comments about breakfast are heartening. On top of that, there are very positive benefits when it comes to children's behavior, attitude about learning and attitude about coming to school.
 
 KG 1 & KG 2 teachers are involved in the breakfast program and are very satisfied with the breakfast in the school. When it comes to nutrition education, teachers have integrated knowledge of nutritious food with different subjects. Children showed a very positive response to it and they pass the nutrition information at home as well. I must say to all our supporters that you are doing a wonderful job. Your generosity is directly shaping the lives of our beneficiaries for which we are thankful.
 
Once again thank you for being so generous and thoughtful!