I choose nutrition and malnutrition because it is close to my heart. The school that I teach at has many low income families. Some of my students eat at school and do not know if they will get dinner at night. Many students are on the backpack program on the weekends which is a program that sends backpacks full of food home for the students on the weekends.
I chose to research about nutrition and malnutrition in Africa. I was completely shocked when I begam to read about this topic. A child in Africa dies every six minutes from malnutrition. I can not imagine watching young children or anyone for that matter die because they are hunger. Twelve million people across this region need food aid and every night someone goes to bed hungry.
Kids who are hungry can not concentrate. If a child is malnourished during the first two years of life, the growth and development may be slowed and it can not be made up when children get older. With this information I plan to make sure that my hungry students get to breakfast everyday. I will also pledge to do anything that I possible can to help anyone that is hungry.
Malnutrition is such a hard topic to read about, but non the less work with. I commend you for working with students who do not have the opportunity to get a good meal at night. I know that I would have a hard time working in that environment because I would want to give my last. My heart goes out to those I pass on the street who are hungry, I know I would struggle with seeing children in this state. It is really sad that so many children on the continent of Africa are malnourished. Were you able to see which countries had a greater need than others? I know that several countries in Africa are not in as great a need as others.
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