Kitchen Care- Kusina ng Kalinga

June 2015 - Kids are back in the classroom for a new school year, and so are we in our Care Kitchens. At the moment, we operate in three areas in Leyte - Alang-Alang, San Isidro, and Palo, preparing nutritious lunch meals for 8,945 school children everyday.

A year and a half since Typhoon Haiyan struck, reconstruction work continues and lives begin to establish some cadence. For kids in Leyte, being able to go to school plays a central role in this recovery process. 

A working template: Program assessment results for the first 6 months of operations

Over the summer break, we conducted a year-end evaluation for our Alang-Alang pilot kitchen, which started operating in August 2014. In a series of focus group discussions with the parents, teachers, students, and kitchen staff, the following emerged as the most observable change since the program started:

• Improvements in physical appearance and over-all well being of the students: Students became more active, attentive, and lively since the introduction of the program. These observations are also reflected in the increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI) recorded by the various schools at the start and middle of the school year. Parents and teachers also took note of healthier eating practices among students such as learning to eat vegetables and developing the habit of washing their hands before eating.
• Improvements in the school-going behavior of the students: Principals and teachers confirm a significant improvement in the attendance rates. They also pointed out increased motivation and persistence to go to school among children, most notable during rainy days when high attendance is maintained despite the difficulties of going to school.

Continuing the progress for school year 2015-2016

Through your continued support, we will be able to run Care Kitchens for another school year and continue with the progress we've achieved so far. With a full year ahead of us, which will now include the summer months, we eagerly anticipate much better results and ultimately, more smiling and energetic kids who are more confident to dream brighter futures for themselves.