2010: Nutrition For My Friends

The Indonesian Health Department stated that in 2008 there were 18 million cases of child malnutrition in the country. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2009) 54% of malnutrition cases lead to child death.  While the children who do not die will experience diminishing physical and mental conditions. So what is the future for this country’s generation if this continues?

In 2010 Sahabat Anak launched the campaing “Nutrition for my friends”.  The program was launched on January 25, 2010 in conjunction with National Nutrition Day. The aim was to reach 3,000 children in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok and Bekasi and provide them with healthy and nutritious food.

Unfortunately, a healthy and nutritious diet is often closely tied to economic situations.  However, at Sahabat Anak we believed that an affordable and healthy diet could be achievable if it consisted of the following: carbohydrates (rice, sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes), protein (tofu, egg, tempe), vegetables, fruit and milk.

The program touched on a child’s right to nutritious food as stated in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. We promoted three main messages throughout the campaign:

1) Nutrition is important for   a child’s development
2) Every child has the right to healthy food, including marginalised children
3) Healthy food is not always expensive

The campaign focused on children living on the streets of Jakarta, in marginalised communities and those who worked as ‘”scavengers” (these are children who work collecting rubbish and selling it to recycling plants). We asked our sponsors, volunteers, donors and friends to participate in the campaign by contributing Rp50,000. This covered the cost of supplying regular nutritional food to the children at Sahabat Anak and ad-hoc distribution to children from other similar foundations. Sahabat Anak was even able to supply nutritional food to 500 children who were displaced by the Merapi Volcano in 2010.

For more information: http://nutritionformyfriends.wordpress.com/

Children enjoying the nutritional food provided through the "Nutrition For My Friends" program.