Fish for Schools

Our trip started out great. About a 3-hour car ride to our lunch stop, which was in a old Portuguese fort in the middle of the country. It was a first world restaurant with Western food.

After about another hour's drive we went to the home of a family that have become fish farmers. They grow tilapia fish and sell it to the local schools for the lunch nutrition program. 

This is all part of a major project that LDS Charities is involved with to increase the protein levels of children in three districts by adding protein and nutritious vegetables to their lunch meals. When the program is complete it will affect about 10,000 children.

With help through an organization we are contracting with this farmer hand-dug a fish pond and now raises fingerling fish into eating size. He received education on how to do this and is assisted by a community consulted who watches over several of the fish farms and has a financial interest in them. In this picture Cheryl is hand-feeding the fish. The fish need to be fed three times a day. The farmer raises some of the fish feed and has to purchase the rest.

After we visited the fish farm we headed to our motel room which was actually nicer than we expected. It had air conditioning and indoor plumbing. It did not have a TV. The buffet breakfast in the morning consisted of rice, bread and scrambled eggs.

On the next day we visited a local school where the programs being implemented. As with almost all of these projects that we attend we are asked to speak because we are the representatives of the donors. Cheryl still hasn't gotten to the point where she enjoys it but, she regularly does it. This was one of 36 schools where the programs being implemented.

And intrical part of the program is educating and teaching the children about the benefits and value of eating fish. We visited a school where they were having  one of their periodic  fish friendly programs.  The whole school was gathered together for activities and a fish feed. In this kindergarten and first grade class the children were coloring.

For this age group they were playing pin-the-tail-on-the- fish.

In this group they were playing a Simon Says game were they had to quickly snatch the ball.

The Community Education Program also involves the parents. A major reason why the parents don't feed their children fish is because the fear of choking from the fish bones. Parents are taught how to properly debone the fish. For the school activity there were several groups of parents who prepared different fish menus in a competition that included grading on taste, hygiene and male participation.

At lunchtime the children all lined up for their meal which was a mixture of rice, vegetables and tilapia fish.

This guy wanted seconds.

All school grades were in attendance. They don't get very many visitors here so this was a pretty big occasion.

This is a first-grade classroom. Two students to a desk. Only about half the floor had tile on it. No air conditioning, but they do have windows on both sides to get some air.

This is a tray full of money. There's about $5,000 here. It is part of a rural Savings Bank program. Banking fees are usually too high and banks are usually to remote for villagers to use them. Villages set up their own small Banks using a wooden box with three locks a set of bylaws and the help of a banking consultant. They then lend out the money to their fellow savers and share in the profits from the interest and the banking fees. Once a year the savings are distributed to the members and then they make purchases with the money that they've accumulated.

Here's a photograph of the annual distribution meeting. There were about 20 members in this Bank program.

Cheryl and I got to distribute some of the money as the villagers were called up one at a time to receive their profits with those who have contributed the most going first. This was the top saver and he got about $800.

These savings programs are wonderful. They give the villagers an opportunity to save money for significant purchases such as repairs or the purchase of a motorcycle. They also add prestige to those who save the most. A consultant oversees the general operation of all of the banks in the area. LDS charities usually funds these Banks as part of larger water and farm projects.