AKAKI MENGIST SCHOOL , ETHIOPIA

This is the first picture of the preschool children at the Akaki Mengist School who will be our next target within our large “Akaki Schools” project.
These 74 children will receive breakfast of bread and milk from us, just like the children in the other schools in Akaki with which we collaborate (Fitawrari, where we feed 450 children lunch and/or breakfast), the Biru Tesfa infant school with 190 children and Abugida, the infant school which is fully maintained exclusively by us (including salaries) with 200 children.
As a wise person once said: "If you want to set up or help a school in Africa start with the dining room".
The children under 5 are the most vulnerable to the risks of malnutrition as they are at an essential stage of growth and development and if they are malnourished they are more prone to disease, so we keep them as healthy as possible by providing them with food. We have good evidence of this in the children at Abugida, whose medical expenses are minimal due to their excellent state of nutrition.
Malnutrition affects the immune system which can cause more frequent, prolonged and serious infections. These infections aggravate the nutritional state of the child even more and a vicious circle is established which is difficult to break and gets worse as time goes on. An undernourished child faces a higher risk of contracting chronic diseases in adulthood.
As well as affecting health, malnutrition also plays a part in the child’s ability to learn, retain and remember, together with their intelligence quotient which will eventually determine their future as an adult.
Let’s break the vicious circle of infant malnutrition as much as we possibly can. The more we are, the more children we can feed in Mallorca and Ethiopía.
Photo dated according to Ethiopian calendar.