School Kitchens

Hambantota School Kitchens

In Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota district, nature can be cruel. Farmers struggle to grow their crops due to the sporadic rainfall. Many barely make enough money to feed and clothe their families. For those children who are lucky enough to go to school, sometimes they lack the nutrients needed to excel and many are unable to concentrate because of their hunger pangs. Often they avoid going to school or are unable to due to illness.

The World Food Programme aims to supply disadvantaged school children with a nutritious meal in order to encourage education by supplying dry rations that are cooked each day by parents. However, without the proper facilities, the food is usually prepared outside and could be contaminated by insects, mice and dust.

Under its Food For Education Programme, Muslim Aid Sri Lanka has completed building kitchens in four disadvantaged schools in the Hambantota district. A further four kitchens are being constructed.

“Before the kitchen was built, parents had to cook outside in the dust. The school is very thankful to Muslim Aid for giving us the kitchen,” said 16 year-old student Niroshi from Mahanagapura Maha Vidyalaya

In all the schools, the parents did the construction work to keep costs down, working all hours of the day
 
“The parents solved their differences and cooperated to do the work. They learnt that it is possible to do anything if they work together peacefully,” said N. Chandrakumar Principal of Abeypura school.

 “Our school is quite isolated so the Government does not help us. This is the first new building we have had since 1991. We are very grateful to Muslim Aid,” Weerakeethi Andrahenadi, Principal of Weligaththa Maha Vidyalaya, told participants at the opening ceremony.

Teacher Lahiru Kumara said the school kitchen project demonstrated that Muslim Aid worked for all people who were in need regardless of race or religion.

 “We can see that they work for Tamils, Sinhalese and Burghers, not only for Muslims,” he said.

MASL’s Head of Operations, Ishak Ahmad encouraged schools to grow their own food so that they were not dependent on donors who could suspend their supplies, as well as a means of countering worldwide food shortages and rising prices. Excess produce could be sold to purchase other produce, he added.

Bengamuwa School

On a sunny, breezy morning in Bengamuwa School, there is a hive of activity. Students from nearby schools have come for a sports festival. Boys and girls of various ages head for the sports field while others climb steep stairs to classrooms perched on the hill. Smaller children trudge from the Muslim Aid Sri Lanka (MASL) funded kitchen carrying blue and red buckets that hold their break-time meal.

For most of the population, feeding and educating their children is a constant struggle. UNICEF figures state that 91 percent of the population are literate so parents place great value on education and strive to scrape the funds for books and uniform.

"Many children don't get to eat at home either at night or in the morning so they faint at school. Their concentration is poor and they lack the strength to study, the drop out rate is very high," says Principal D.M Chandrasiri.

Unlike the coastal areas of the south where fishing provides a reasonable income, the people in the interior have to rely on daily labour work for survival. Even those with their own fields of rice or vegetable plots are dependent on rainfall for cultivation.

The World Food Programme which began to distribute rations to provide meals in schools, gradually improved the attendance, health and nutrition of the children, however, the meals were cooked in unhygienic conditions in a temporary shelter, which leaked in the rain.

Muslim Aid Sri Lanka's office has built 19 kitchens benefiting 11,600 children in Matara and will construct 81 more in the adjoining districts of Galle and Hambantota. Under their Food For Education programme (FFE), parents and staff help in the construction of the kitchens while four mothers prepare the meals each morning. The kitchens are basic cement structure with a wood-burning stove. The school now feeds 736 children every day. Some of the vegetables come from the school's own garden while the rest is brought by the parents.

 “I want to thank Muslim Aid very much for helping us to get the kitchen; I can't even begin to tell you how much it has helped us. We used to get many sick children because of malnutrition or eating unclean food but now that sickness is much less. Children are learning better and they are healthier,” said 12 year-old student Sanduni Tharika.

According to Principal Chandrasiri, attendance has gone up by 10 to 15 percent since the kitchen was opened nine months ago. "I have seen a great improvement in the children overall,” he said, "and for that I am very thankful to Muslim Aid.