We focus on Women, and children who are more vulnerable socially and economically to malnutrition  –  Practical solutions for reducing women’s malnutrition and keeping them engaged and healthy.   Some actions that governments, business,es and communities can take to help reduce malnutrition in women and girls are:

• Including Women with their own role; and Investing in ending malnutrition
• Increasing resources and access to education in the community 
• Supporting small scale farming with our international partners

(Micro-nutrient  malnutrition, Iron Deficiency, and Anemia) –  Vitamin A Deficiency – Vitamin A is a nutrient required for proper cell growth.  It has a critical role in the formation of the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs in the baby.  Vitamin A is crucial in vision, and night blindness is a symptom of severe vitamin A deficiency.  Poor vision can become permanent in prolonged deficiency for Seniors, who live with terminal illnesses, patients who keep testing positive for several weeks after the onset of symptoms, and for patients who are treating themselves at home.  Our focus is to source resources to support COVID-19 recovery, highlights on exciting new upcoming Annual Events, Training, Education and Dialogue, both in-person and virtually  – On disease Transmission and Prevention, with Equipment through Arts; Sports;  Grocery/Food Cooking and delivery; Sewing; Hair-do; and  Environmental Programs as well as new community-led initiatives.  At GLBC –  Nutritional status is considered a key indicator of national development because a well-nourished and healthy population is considered a moral obligation, its Concords with human rights and it is a precondition for sustainable social, economic, and human development. Poor health due to limited nutrition affects individual well-being and human dignity. In sub-Saharan Africa, food insecurity and malnutrition remain a major challenge, with women of reproductive age (particularly pregnant women) and children under the age of five being at high risk.  Many women in sub-Saharan Africa remain particularly exposed to what has become known as “hidden hunger.” “Hidden hunger” is the lack of, or inadequate intake of micro-nutrients, resulting in different types of malnutrition, such as anemia and deficiencies of iron, vitamin A and zinc, among others. This can occur even in the presence of adequate energy and protein intake.  

Globally, about 9.8 million women are vitamin A deficient, and iron-deficiency anemia contributes to at least 18% of maternal deaths in developing countries. Food insecurity in the form of under-nutrition also affects early childhood development, as the child’s brain and central nervous system are compromised. This leads to poor school performance, reduced physical work capacity, and decreased productivity later in life. The first 1000 days of a child’s life are critical for optimal growth, health, and development; therefore, intake of diverse and good quality food, insufficient quantity, is crucial.  In some societies within sub-Saharan Africa, women and young children are prohibited from eating certain foods due to ethnic or cultural beliefs and taboos, and those may include micro-nutrient-rich foods.  Food taboos are known from almost all human societies as a systematized set of rules about which foods or combinations of foods one may not consume.  However, food taboos often target pregnant women to prevent what is perceived as harmful effects of these foods on the newborn.  For example, in Ethiopia, Gambia, Nigeria, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, pregnant women are usually forbidden from consuming the richest food sources of iron, carbohydrates, animal proteins, and micro-nutrients.  This is mainly because of the fear that the child may develop bad habits after birth or may be born with diseases, the fear of delayed labor due to large babies, and the belief that certain foods stimulate continuous menstruation, leading to infertility in women. 

With all these reasons and challenges for those on the streets, or those with critical diseases and our seniors, we try to serve them the food that is culturally appropriate, we shop, cook and deliver, some times we offer community members gift cards from the African stores.  A new season is upon us.  If there’s one thing that 2020 has brought to life, it’s that sacred connection.  Our Grocery/food deliveries, soup kitchen, gift cards, and the monthly homeless feeding programs of the past few months have, in an unexpected way, paved the path for more intentional interaction.  It offered an opportunity to experiment, to get creative, and to ask ourselves: have we just been going through the motions all this time? And as we move forward past the initial phases of pandemic lock-down and start introducing more social time again, is it time to do so differently, and more intentionally.  “If we are willing to bring to the time of COVID’19 a level of intention that we too rarely visit upon our regular gatherings, this heavy time could be leavened by the new rituals it created, the unlikely intimacies it fostered, and the ways in which it revealed that convening people is a special privilege that ought never to be taken for granted.”

It does not need to be complicated.  Now, as we adapt to new forms of social interaction, we have the opportunity to choose a more deliberate type of connection; one that goes deeper, that challenges us, or maybe that grows us. The purpose of Community healing through culturally appropriate food is to give a platform to connect around a topic that truly matters to the people being fed, but how it may look, is completely up to the food recipients. Craving some face-to-face time with African food; Love being outside?  You can do that too, with our African Chapatis, mandazi, matoke, Miogo, and even Muchicha.  Get the conversation going Tukila Pamoja, helps get past the small talk and into deeper conversations.  Please keep browsing our websites for the new feeding program as it happens.  With Funding from Red Cross we are now able to provide the needed food, hygiene items, we make re-usable Face Masks for our people with African Prints, we are looking for more donations in form of food, hygiene (Sanitizers), tablets/Laptops, etc. for the children who need to connect to their studies and the world.   April to the end of August we had prepared 3058 Meals of African cultural appropriate food for the Homeless and the seniors in the facilities and in their homes, we finished by making 1,000 Breakfast pan Cakes during our Harambecouver 2021 diversity festival