Help To Provide Lunch For Half Day School Students

The first half of the Half Day School year is set to end in the second week of October after term exams are completed. The children have a holiday for the rest of the month, and then school resumes again in November. When the second term begins, the Half Day School (HDS) Lunch Program will also resume, and students will again be provided with healthy daily meals. Oftentimes, our Half Day School students do not eat three nutritious meals a day and suffer from malnutrition, which adversely affects their ability to learn.

The problem of malnutrition caused by poverty and lack of awareness about nutrition is especially prevalent in this region. We at DEPDC thus continue our efforts in order to help combat and wipe out malnutrition in the community. The HDS Lunch Programprovides the students every day with a lunch that includes all of the nutrients that a child needs to grow and develop.

Every day of the school week, the Half Day School teachers take turns to prepare lunch for the children, with an alternating group of students present to help and learn. Here is a look at a typical day:

    On Tuesday, 9^th of September, our teacher Ming, a Thai youth volunteer Mai Phai, and three Half Day School  students shared in preparation of lunch for the all HDS students that day.

    In the early morning, the ingredients for Phad Phak Ruam (fried mixed vegetables) were bought fresh at the local market in Mae Sai. After morning classes began, the small group of teachers and students began to prepare the lunch.

    The ingredients of Phad Phak Ruam included cornlettes, bell peppers, cauliflower, napa cabbage, carrots, mu-err mushrooms, tofu, chilies, garlic, vegetable bouillon, sugar, thin soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce, and salt.

    The preparation of all the vegetables took a long time, because each vegetable needed to be cleaned and chopped into small pieces. After all ingredients were prepared, the vegetables were fried in a huge pan and seasoned to taste.

The benefits of our Lunch Program reach many different levels. Every day, a teacher organizes the lunch preparation. The children learn how to make many different dishes, and they learn about traditional foods from different ethnic groups. Finally, the children can eat a healthy meal, giving them the energy they need to succeed in school!

Huaifong, a recent graduate of the Half Day School and current youth volunteer at DEPDC, commented on the lunch program: “The lunch program is very important for some children from very poor families. They have a chance to have one proper meal a day, and if there is food left after lunch, they are allowed to take it home.” She thinks that: “Cooking foods under supervision of a teacher is a good opportunity to learn about the different kinds of foods and their preparation. Learning to cook healthy food is a valuable skill for future life.”

Links:

• DEPDC's Homepage
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At the Half Day School, the teachers and staff understand that proper nutrition is key to physical health and positive educational outcomes. The Lunch Program was created to provide students with a healthful and nutritious meal every school day. This meal is often the sole form of nourishment that students will receive all day. Approximately 25 of the 100 Half Day School students are reliant solely on the lunch program for their food. Last school year, 21 students could not bring their own rice to have with the dishes provided by the school.

The head of the Lunch Program, Teacher Ming, is especially attuned to the situations that many of the students face as a former Half Day School student herself. Ming is now 25 years old, but remembers well her childhood and time as a student. Here is her story.  

Ming had to move in with her aunt when she was seven. Shortly after, she came to the Half Day School as a student. She was stateless (without official identity papers), which greatly limited her educational opportunities. Ming was unable to go to a government school and the Half Day School program gave her the ability to pursue an education. The Lunch Program is very close to her heart, because she benefitted from the program when she was a student there.

Ming was able to bring rice from home to have for lunch, but she relied on food from the school’s Lunch Program. Ming completed Grade 5 - the top grade at that time - and then, at age 14, began leadership training through the Mekong Youth Leadership Training Program for one year. After completing the leadership training, she did vocational training for 3 months at the Mekong Regional Indigenous Child Rights Home (MRICRH), our program in Mae Chan District. Ming then worked for our organization's Child Help Line project for one and a half years, where she saw many sad cases. She then worked for our Child Voice Radio program, to deejay programs and train Half Day School students.  

Ming has been an Half Day School teacher now for 3 years and she loves teaching. She says that the students are curious to learn, the way that she was at their age. She knows that they need to learn academic subjects, but believes that it is equally important for them to learn life skills that will protect them from trafficking and labor abuses. Ming notes especially that the Lunch Program is key to achieving these goals. The nourishment that the food provides improves the childrens’ abilities to focus on their academic subjects. The vocational training that the lunch program provides through its cooking and agricultural aspects increases students responsibility, self-sufficiency, and life skills through hands-on training.

We sincerely thank those who have donated to the program so far. Please help us reach our goal!

Links:

• DEPDC/GMS Official Blog
• DEPDC/GMS Facebook Page