Orphanages get donation of fruits and veggies |17 October 2017

To commemorate this year’s World Food Day, the Nutrition Unit of the Ministry of Health has donated a vast selection of fruits and vegetables to the four main orphanages on Mahé.

This was done in a brief ceremony held yesterday at the President’s Village at Port Glaud in the presence of the children and management of the Village and representatives of the other three orphanages, namely Foyer de Nazareth, St Elizabeth Convent and Foyer de la Solitude.

Aside from fruits and vegetables, both local and imported, the nutrition unit also donated a variety of non-perishable food items such as packets of lentils, pulses and rice.

In addition the unit partnered with the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) to provide the home with seedlings of local fruits and vegetables which are expected to be planted in the gardens of the different orphanages in the next few days.

According to Stephanie Desnousse, head nutritionist at the Ministry of Health, this will encourage children to eat more fruits as they will be able to take care of these plants, watch them grow and literally pick and eat the fruits of their labour.

She further commented that this is also a way to promote local farming and national food production which integrates well with this year’s World Food Day theme: ‘Change the future of migration: Invest in food security and rural development’.

“We are encouraging the consumption of fruits and vegetables because this is where we get vitamins, minerals and fibre which are all important during a child’s development,” Ms Desnousse stated.

She explained that the nutrition unit currently caters to a lot of children from foster homes and elsewhere who are suffering from nutritional deficiencies as well as obesity hence the activity aims to promote healthy, balanced diets.

The manager of the President’s Village, on her part, said that it is quite hard to cultivate healthy practices among the children under her care but insists that the team at the village tries their best.

“We make sure to give them fruits and vegetables with every meal,” she affirmed.

“Some of the children did not have the best of upbringings so we have to teach them how a balanced diet looks like. Moreover we have to teach them how to become self-dependent, how to cook, how to clean up after themselves and even how to interact and socialise with each other,” she concluded.

The children at the foster homes were also able to interact with the nutritionist and get more information on the fruits and vegetables that were on display.

World Food Day is celebrated every October 16 to coincide with the creation of the United Nation’s (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945.