Fatima
is a fragile 7-month old girl with a measured smile and dark, glowing,
eyes. At only 4 kilograms, she weighs 50% less than the World Health
Organization’s standard of what she should weigh at her age. Fatima
would essentially have to double her body weight in order to be a normal
7-month old girl. At this age, she should be developing motor skills
like rolling and crawling, however, she is merely able to quietly stare,
motionless, swaddled in her mother’s arms.
Fatima
was a 3-month old foetus when her mother fled with her and her four
siblings from Gwoza, Borno state, after a siege laid on the town by the
Boko Haram militant group. After spending 3 weeks in Maiduguri, they
escaped to the Durumi IDP camp in FCT, Abuja. Fatima is wasted and
tethering on the edge. Her little body may not be able to handle one
bout of diarrhoea; or one episode of fever; perhaps not even a cold. Her
ability to fight is deeply compromised, and she is in great need of
nutrients in order to stand a chance.
Maimuna, an IDP with her 11-month old daughter, Aisha
3-year old Usman Abubakar is stunted due to malnutrition
Fatima’s
story unfortunately, is not unique in Nigeria. The country has over 12
million people living in hunger and according to the Nigeria Demographic
& Health Survey in 2013, 37% of children under 5 are stunted, 18%
are wasted and 29% are underweight. These statistics are
disproportionately higher in the Northern region of Nigeria. The
situation has been worsened by the Boko Haram insurgency, which started
in Borno State and has spread across the North East and some North
Western parts of the country. The result is an internal refugee crisis
with conservative estimates putting the number of internally displaced
peoples (IDPs) at over 1.5 million as at April 2015. Approximately half
of the IDPs are children, malnourished and suffering from ailments
caused by pertinent micronutrient deficiencies including iron, iodine
and vitamin A.
AACE Foods an indigenous agro-processing company, established by Mezuo and Ndidi Nwuneli,
burdened by the high rates of malnutrition in Nigeria recently launched
two new products – Soyamaize and SosoNourish. Both products are proudly
Nigerian, made from the best of grains and cereals, and fortified with
vitamins and minerals to provide a complete meal and address
malnutrition. AACE works with farmer clusters, providing training,
microfinance and technology support to enable them meet the global
standards of excellence.
In August
2015, AACE launched “AACE Foods Feed the Children Fund”, via
crowdfunding to raise funds to provide at least 2,500 displaced children
with nutritious food for 3 months. According to the company’s General
Manager, Temitope Jebutu, “we have been overwhelmed by donations that we
have received from friends across the globe who share our passion for
addressing malnutrition in the IDP camps.”
In
October 2015, AACE, in partnership with Africare Nigeria, and with the
support of committed volunteers, kicked off its IDP intervention,
starting with Durumi IDP camp in Abuja. The AACE team, led by Juliet Fejinro,
provided training to the mothers on nutrition and demonstrated the use
of the Soyamaize. The company distributed products to over 200 children.
With
Africare’s support, AACE volunteers have committed to visiting the
camps bi-weekly to monitor the nutritional status of the children. Their
intervention involves feeding the children SoyaMaize twice a day
alongside their normal diets for three months. With their parents’
consent, AACE Foods will monitor their growth in order to assess the
impact of the consumption of fortified foods in these children’s growth
patterns. The results of this programme could prove highly instrumental
in AACE’s campaign to ensure a more nutrition-conscious, and a healthier
Nigeria.
Words from Ndidi Nwuneli, AACE Foods’ co-founder captures the shared sentiment of the volunteers and the company – “I
am so proud of AACE’s work in the IDP camps and thankful to our funders
and volunteers. From feeling so depressed about our inability to
respond to the havoc caused by the Boko Haram crises in Nigeria, this
collective intervention restores our hope and demonstrates that
committed individuals, working together in service, can save lives!”
To support this initiative visit https://www.gofundme.com/AACEFeedDechildren or send an email to info@aacefoods.com, www.aacefoods.com, @aacefoods.
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