Mandaue barangay feeds schoolkids

The Young Advocacy and Nutrition (YAN) program of barangay Banilad, Mandaue City has been feeding children weekly to fight malnutrition.

Barangay captain Diane Bercede-Abanes told Cebu Daily News the program encourages children to eat nutritious food rather than junk food.

Every Friday, Abanes said they went to Banilad Elementary School to feed the schoolchildren porridge.

Abanes said porridge is a complete meal since it has crushed vegetables, chicken meat and carbohydrates.

Abanes said she observed that there are many malnourished children in their barangay, prompting her to come up with a feeding program.

She said some children in the barangay don’t have baon, while others have baon of processed meat prepared by their parents in the morning such as hotdog, ham and longganiza.

She admitted, though, that she too cooked processed food for her family.

“Well, everyone is entitled to do what food they want to cook but as much as possible importante gyud kung maningkamot ta nga magluto og healthy food for our children (we should take effort to cook healthy food for our children),” Abanes said.

Abanes said they received feedback from the teachers that the children’s health have improved.

The principal and the teachers of Banilad Elementary School assist the barangay in identifying the malnourished and monitoring their health since the program feeding started two years ago.

“Daghan man kaayo’ng malnourished children sa Banilad especially ang mga underprivileged constituents nga way mga bawon. Mao nang nangita mi ug way na makakaon sila at least once a week (There are many malnourished children in Banilad, especially the less-privileged constituents who don’t have baon. That’s why we had to look for ways to feed the children at least once a week),” Abanes told CDN.

She said students who are not beneficiaries of the program will also be given food if there are leftovers. “Kasagaran makakaon man tanan kay permi man naay sobra (Mostly, all of them can eat as there are always leftovers),” Abanes added.

Aside from the feeding, the barangay captain said they also did counseling among the parents on serving nutritious food.

Next year, Abanes said they will also be feeding the high school students.  REPORTER JUCELL MARIE P. CUYOS