|
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Chiqui's nutribun bags 2 awards
HERE'S good reason why the 1970s circa bread called "nutribun" deserved its comeback in the city.
Baguio's Kataguan Watch (KW), a non-government organization here that revived "nutribun" for its feeding project for first year high school students of a public school, bagged two awards this year.
First, the group took home the Nestle Philippines' outstanding nutrition program together with four groups from other regions.
Second, the group was given recognition by the Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) for contributing to the school's health and nutrition program.
Nestle' Philippines Inc. (NPI) "2005 Search for the Five Outstanding Nutrition and Health Programs in the Philippines", is a quest that was launched last year to recognize exceptional health programs in the country.
The search also aimed to encourage and honor individuals whose nutrition and health programs are worthy of emulation in affectively addressing priority "wellness" issues in different localities, as per the NPI official website newsletter.
KW's "First Meal Project" was one of the 20 nominees chosen from among the top five feeding programs. The project, which was launched in 2004, aims to improve the health and school performance of identified first year high school students of the Baguio National High School by providing them with nutritious meals for breakfast.
Other winners included the health care program of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); family health and well-being program of Sta. Cruz, Laguna; the New Lucena local government unit (LGU) nutri-health program in Iloilo City and the Calinog Nutrition Committee Program also in Iloilo City.
Criteria for judging included effectiveness, project impact, people participation, sustainability and responsiveness to health and wellness concerns.
Each group received P100,000 cash prize in the awarding ceremony held March 16 at the Philippine Plaza in Pasay City. Last March 22, the BCNHS also gave a special award for services to KW during the high school student's graduation and recognition day.
Chiqui Torres, a member of the KW who co-organized the "First Meal Project", said the recognition only proved that eating breakfast is important before going to school.
Torres said the concept of feeding started over a cup of coffee with some of her friends who formed the KW in 2004. "This award only shows that it is not only us who believe that children must eat nutritious food before going to school. We have the heart to do it for children. We hope that this can be duplicated and sustained."
From "nutribun", Torres endearingly called her bread "Chiquibun", obviously taken after her first name.
A year after at least 100 BCNHS students benefited from the feeding program featuring the "nutribun", the school's health officials found out that their students, who were in various stages of malnutrition, have gained weight.
The feeding program was launched in 2004.
Torres said aside from the weight increase, the project has helped students develop the habit of eating breakfast before going to school or starting the day's activities. "We achieved our objectives, with Nutribun as our main tool, to increase the weight and improve the eating habits of these students."
A 2005 report of the BCNHS health team said the beneficiaries of the feeding program have shown "positive signs" in terms of nutrition and health.
The report, which was released during the celebration of Nutrition Month July last year, showed that the malnutrition problem in the school has also been minimized. From "below normal," the underweight students reached the "normal" nutritional status, the report said.
The feeding program selected 100 students, all of them in first year. The KW focused on high school freshmen because it is at this stage that students adjust to rigid educational training.
Dr. Jocelyn de Jesus of BCNHS said the school and KW agreed to extend the project this year due to its success last year. She said at least 10 beneficiaries of last year's program would have to continue participating in the program this year to improve their weight.
In 2004, De Jesus held a room-to-room information campaign to select beneficiaries of the feeding program. Of the 1,954 freshmen, more than 100 were found underweight.
On its second year in 2005, De Jesus used the same process to look for 70 to 100 indigent students who would join the program.
She said with the help of the teachers and the principal, they convinced the students to participate in the program.
The students were allowed to miss 15 minutes of their first subject to eat their breakfast.
De Jesus said most of the students participating in the program were children of construction workers, vendors, drivers and porters, whose income could hardly provide a full breakfast for the children.
She said they monitor the students' improvement through quarterly weigh-ins.
The feeding program started last August 1. Torres also returned to her daily routine of baking the "nutribun" and preparing soup for the children.
"Nutribun" was part of the United States' food aid program in the 1970s.
The bread was originally prepared from soy-fortified wheat flour. Its later version was made from bulgur wheat and green peas and distributed to schools and feeding centers.
The KW's version of "nutribun" used potato, milk, flour and mashed carrots. It sustained the feeding program through donors' assistance. (Desiree Caluza)
(April 18, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
