Anan
Healthy food for children From the 24th of January until the 23rd of March 2014 we, Henrike Heres and Anne-Fokje Wielstra, both Medical students from The Netherlands, went for a long journey to Nanatha, Mozambique to work as volunteers for Anan Clinica. In this most ‘hot and steamy’ period of the year we provided health education to the communities in the context of a public health internship. We both had never been to Africa before and loved the colourful country of Mozambique from the first moment. The beautiful nature, the blue sea and, most of all, the people that were very kind and welcoming. On the other hand, we immediately saw that the country is very poor and we realised that the contrast with our European life at home is so big. Malnutrition is still a big problem in this part of Mozambique. We had prepared to do a project about malnutrition and the feeding of small children, with a focus on breastfeeding. The activistas had done a project about malnutrition before, but were enthusiastic about focussing on the breastfeeding. It was decided that we also had to repeat the previous lessons taught about malnutrition, because the activistas had noticed that not everyone in the communities was already using the new knowledge in their daily lives. Changing habits and embedding new knowledge takes time and repetition is a good way to help this process. The new aspects we taught them were Anan Clinica | P.O.Box 88 | Nacala Porto | Nampula | Mozambique Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven | the Netherlands | www.ananclinica.com | ananclinica@gmail.com
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Clinica
Anan Clinica Newsletter • nr 12 • Sept 2014
Malnutrition is still a big problem in this part of Mozambique about problems during breastfeeding but also about why breast milk is very important. It was very nice to see how much the activistas themselves had remembered from the previous lessons and how curious they were for new information! To get familiar with the way of eating and cooking and the ingredients that are available in Nanatha, we were given the opportunity to visit a few families
He also introduced us to Jamal, the ‘bed maker’. Jamal
to witness their cooking and to eat together. This was a
can make everything with wood, so we gave him the
wonderful way to get to know the village and to learn first
challenge to make wooden fish, in which you can play the
hand about their usual diets. We tasted traditional ‘Matapa’
really Mozambican game ‘tachi’. He did a great job and
and it was quite good!
nowadays he also earns a bit of money by selling these ‘fish’ to new volunteers and customers at Nuarro Lodge.
We then started making posters and teaching the activistas. With drawings that are easy to understand,
IIn the last 4 weeks of our stay in Nanatha, we went
we told for instance about the causes of malnutrition
with the activistas to Nanatha and 4 other villages in the
and how you can recognise that a child is suffering from
neighbourhood to spread our knowledge. The activistas
it. An important message was about meals with diverse
were great, not only at giving the poster presentations, but
ingredients and at regular times, 5 times a day for a child,
also at cooking enriched porridge. This was an example of
and not 1 or 2 times. They need food with fibers, energy,
how you can make a meal with the ‘four groups’, prepared
protein and vitamins, the so-called ‘four groups’. It is
with easy to find and healthy ingredients. Everybody
recommended by the WHO that children until 6 months
present could learn from them and could taste the
old should be fed exclusively by mother milk. The activistas
porridge. The meetings were enjoyed by the communities.
told us about problems with breastfeeding, and thus we
After the meetings we handed out little cards with a
also added drawings about how to take care of these problems, for instance sore nipples or an infection.
page 2 | Anan Clinica | Newsletter nr 12
We taught the activistas with great pleasure, but nothing
Anan Clinica Foundation is a non-religious charity
could have been done for Anan Clinica without the support
that aims to increase local knowledge of health issues
of our translator and guide Feleciano. He told us a lot
andAthe scope, quality, accessibility, acceptability
about the village Nanatha and the local habbits. He loves
and coverage of primary health care services for the
to play his guitar and to make music with his brother, so
underserved people of the Nanatha community in
we exchanged ‘macua’ and ‘english’ songs, it was a lot of
Northern Mozambique. Anan Clinica focusses primarily on
fun.
health education and basic hygiene facilities.
For donations: 44.68.04.444; Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven, the Netherlands.
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About Anan Clinica
summary of the information contained in drawings. People liked this very much and even asked for more cards to give to family and neighbours that could not be present! We really enjoyed working with the activistas and we have showed our thankfulness by preparing a nice meal for them at Feleciano’s place. On the picture you see them with their brand new ‘activistas’ shirts! They are lovely people and do a wonderful job! We are very grateful that we could help improving the knowledge of the people in Nanatha and its surroundings. Our time in Mozambique has been an unforgettable experience. Thank you very much Anan Clinica, Feleciano and the activistas!
Together anything is possible! Together anything is possible and also your help will be very welcomed. It can be as simple (but not less important) as making a financial donation, volunteering time and knowledge; even a useful suggestion or good idea can take us further in helping the Nanatha Community. If you are interested don’t hesitate to contact us: ananclinica@gmail.com For more information about Anan Clinica, please visit our website: www.ananclinica.com.
For donations 44.68.04.444 Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven, the Netherlands
Anan Clinica | P.O.Box 88 | Nacala Porto | Nampula | Mozambique Stichting Anan Clinica at Bilthoven | the Netherlands | www.ananclinica.com | ananclinica@gmail.com
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