All children need nutritious food to grow. They even have a right to it. Yet 149 million children worldwide are chronically malnourished.
Unfortunately, the neighborhoods where we work are no exception. Every day, we hear from the children and women we work with that there is little or no food left in the house.
ZeroHunger strives to provide families with better ways to feed themselves and get the nutrients they need for their daily needs.
Many families in our communities cook on an open fire. This is not only a very time-consuming job, but also very unhealthy for the lungs. We provide these families with a stove so they can cook in a healthier environment. It is very important for us to provide stoves because, unfortunately, people who cook on open fires in Colombia suffer the consequences:
- 41.9% have reduced lung capacity
- 33.1% suffer from frequent coughing attacks
- Every year, nearly 2,300 people die as a result of this disease and 1.2 million people become ill.
Women and children, who spend most of their time at home, are particularly affected. To support these families, we are giving them a stove that will improve their health and allow them to easily cook and eat more nutritious meals.
Volunteers in Colombia understands that you cannot learn on an empty stomach and how malnutrition can effect children’s performance in life.
Malnutrition causes children to:
- Lag in growth or inhibit their brains from developing sufficiently. As a result, they perform worse in school and are less likely to find a job afterward.
- Have a higher chance of ending up in poverty and developing medical issues as they grow older, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
With the help of donations, we distribute food packages to families within the neighborhood so that these children have the nutrition they need to fully participate in our programs.
By motivating and rewarding participation in our education projects, we hope to provide the tools they need to maintain good nutrition for themselves and their families.
We provide all regular participants of our program 1.5 food packages once every month to maintain motivation and support their families. These food packages support a family of 4-6 people for approximately 2 weeks.
Donate 23.05 Euros (23.60 US Dollars) to sponsor one family with a stove.
Donate 9.75 Euros (9.50 US Dollars) to sponsor a family with food packages
(this supports a family of 4-6 people for at least one week)
