🌍 Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers
whY we focus on women. children and our seniors
Nourishing Dignity through Food Justice and Culturally Rooted Meals for Women, Children, and Seniors
Hunger wears a woman’s face-and too often, a child’s and an elder’s.
Women and girls make up over 60% of the world’s food-insecure population. Many face malnutrition, anemia, and preventable illness due to a lack of access to nutritious food. Children suffer lifelong impacts from early nutrient deficiencies, and seniors, especially those with family values, and beliefs, hey often experience deep emotional and physical hunger when removed from their homelands or traditional food systems.
In Canada, many elders from family-oriented communities are brought here by their children, only to be placed in care facilities where familiar foods, languages, and rituals are missing. Culturally appropriate meals mean everything to them — a taste of home, a return to dignity, and a way to stay connected to their identity . (Culturally appropriate meals have a form of dignity, memory, and belonging.
We believe that feeding women, children, and our elders is not charity — it’s justice. It’s care. It’s culture.
Supporting women and children through accessible, nutritious meals is the reason our food justice programs prioritize:
Nutritious, culturally relevant meals made with love and tradition.
Outreach program to isolated seniors, refugee families, single mothers, and those living with chronic diseases
Community-building around the shared language of food.
Delivering culturally familiar food that promotes healing and trust.
Building women-led, community-rooted responses to food injustice.
We believe empowering and feeding women is the key to ending global hunger.
Our Approach
We deliver African meals and traditional dishes like chapati, matoke, mandazi, miogo, and muchicha to those most in need. Our food programs — from soup kitchens to gift cards for African grocery stores have served thousands across the Lower Mainland. During Harambeecouver 2021, we delivered over 3,000 culturally appropriate meals/ We annual prepare 1,000 Pancake breakfast during our annual Harambeecouver Festival, and Reconciliation Parade, as part of our feeding initiative.
Our goal is not just to feed-but to reconnect, honour culture, and restore dignity through every plate.
🧕🏽 Malnutrition is a Justice Issue
Globally, anemia affects one in three women. Hidden hunger — caused by micronutrient deficiencies — devastates the health of women and children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Cultural taboos and poverty can further restrict access to nutritious food.
At GLNS-BC, we are calling for:
Increased education and investment in women’s nutrition.
Community food literacy and food rights awareness.
International partnerships that support food security.
Small Scale Farming Solutions
Beyond Boarders: Supporting small-Scale farmers in Africa
With our chapters in Kenya, we invest in small-scale farming initiatives. These farm
Grow diverse, sustainable crops.
Feed local families and build food independence.
Promote eco-friendly methods and community health.
Our flagship project — SAWA Community the Kombii Spring Farms.
Training Farm in Bungoma, Kenya — For farmers in sustainable practices and helps local families reclaim food security.
🧼 COVID-19 Response and Ongoing Needs
With support from the Canadian Red Cross, we responded to COVID-19 by:
Distributing food and hygiene items.
Making reusable face masks with African fabrics.
Hosting virtual education and in-person food delivery programs.
young people helped train seniors in need/in facilities/lonely at their homes, with New Internet technology, on computers, laptops, Tablets and even on Cell-phones, where they were able to communicate to their families, friends here in Canada and calling their countires of origin through facetime, ect.
Our phone-call program, where we checked on the community members on phones and reported back in our daily meetings, for action/support and knowledge
We continue to need support in the form of:
Food and hygiene donations
Tablets/laptops for children’s learning
Funding to expand our delivery program
The Heart of Our Work: Intentional Connection
This project is not just about food. It’s about healing. Whether it’s Chai and chapati shared across generations or a gift card to help a mother feed her children, we build bridges through nourishment, love, and cultural dignity.
Stay Connected
Keep checking our website and social media for updates on new food justice initiatives, partnerships, and calls for support. Help us fight hunger with heritage, honour, and healing.