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Food Needed Urgently in Schools The drought has not let up. Therefore, the Government of Nicaragua has decided to advance the distribution of school meals for 1,050,000 students in public schools. Approximately 1,700 metric tons are hastily being transported from warehouses in Managua, the nation’s capital, to vulnerable households that have been detrimentally affected by the drought. Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada Timely Decisions “I want to give recognition to the Nicaraguan Government for anticipating the severity of the drought, and taking action. As a faithful partner of the Ministry of Education and the School Feeding Programme, WFP also participates in this distribution with food donated by the international community,” said WFP Representative to Nicaragua, Helmut W. Rauch, at the beginning of the food distribution. Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada There Will Be no Child without Food in Schools “On behalf of the government, Ministry of Education, and the people of Nicaragua, we give our sincerest appreciation and gratitude to WFP and their contributions. Which as you said Helmut, has been our most valued partner within the school feeding operations,” expressed Vice Minister of Education, Norma Irías. She continued to comment that “we do not want any child to go without a school lunch.” Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada School Meals Are Universal in Nicaragua The National School Feeding Programme, which provides school meals to 1,050,000 children, is 70-per-cent funded by the Government of Nicaragua. WFP provides food to 155,000 children in municipalities vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity. The funding for these projects are from WFP Immediate Response Account, Canada, Brazil, and Australia. Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada Communities Protect Their Children Staff of the Ministry of Education made a tour to the public schools of the “dry corridor”, where the drought is hitting impoverished families. It was noted that many of the schools had exhausted their food supplies to increase the quantity of meals the children received because of the lack of food in their homes. Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada The Drought is Hitting Hard The drought is hitting smallholder farmers, agricultural workers, and their families the hardest. The lack of rainfall has resulted in the loss of much of the staple grain harvests. Water supplies are drying up, yet smallholders remain hopeful, however many of them lack seeds and other agriculutral inputs, which further worsen their food insecuiry. Photo: Courtesy/Oswaldo Rivas Food and Transportation Are Priority Rice, beans, vegetable oil, corn, fortified cereal, flour and milk powder are transported urgently to 55 municipalities in the driest part of the country. Additional rations of fortified cereal was included in the delivery, to ensure that children receive two cups of cereal a day. “(So that) if there is not enough food in their homes, the children are still receiving enough nutrients,” explained the Ministry of Education’s Vice President, Norma Irías. School Meals Are Essential for the Children María de Jesús Zeledón is a teacher in a rural school in Jinotega. Her students, third and fourth graders, are the children of agricultural laborers. “School meals are imperative to the children. It is the guarantee that they will receive a hot meal daily. When they do not eat they are unable to concentrate in the classroom, and they grow sad and week,” she confirmed. Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada The Drought Hits the Most Depressed Areas The children are bathed and dressed, ready for school. Parents and children alike know that if they attend school they will be provided with a hot meal and a glass of cereal. So they appease the discomfort that causes hunger in rural areas where more than 80 per cent of Nicaragua’s poor live (remote communities with limited access, a lack of basic services and good paying jobs). Climatic events such as the drought increase vulnerability and economic decline at home, thus affecting their quality of life. Photo: WFP/Sabrina Quezada
