Kamla Bai wakes up early in the morning, completes her daily household chores and walks to school each day with the same zeal and enthusiasm she had years ago. Nearing her retirement age, Kamla Bai, is a Mid-Day Meal cook in a remote village of Sehore named Raipura. She has been serving food to children from Anganwadi and primary schools for more than two decades.

 

I am doing a job that earns me triumphs. Cooking for so many children and making them healthy is a very wonderful task and I love doing it, she says. But now, cooking even healthier meal for them makes it even more exciting, she adds.

 

Kamla Bai, attended the meetings organized under the Good Farming- Good Food-Good Health initiative a few months ago. During the meetings she was introduced to a new form of superfood Soy. The nutrition team after getting training from Agri- Nutrition Resource Centre and an exposure of various Soy food dishes that are easy to prepare and should be incorporated in the routine consumption, especially for women and children, suggested consuming soy food in some form.

 

We have soy produce in the farms but never thought of consuming it. When I heard about how Soy benefits our health from the nutrition team of Good Farming-Good Food- Good Health, especially those of the children, I decided to include soy products in the mid-day meals as well, she said.

 

Kamla Bai and her team, prepares food for nearly 450 students, off which 150 are Anganwadi students while remaining are school going children. Our team prepares vegetable made of Soya chunks every once a week and adds Srijan tree leaves (Drumstick tree leaves) in lentils during every preparation.

 

The Nutrition team of Solidaridad has also planted a Nutrition Garden that supports planting of seasonal fruits and vegetables in a complete organic manner. Presently, we have Tomatoes, Brinjal, Okra, Chilies, Bottle Guard and Papaya in the nutrition garden. We also have some coriander. These are used for preparation of the mid-day meals, Kamla Bai adds.

 

After we started incorporating soy in the mid-day meals twice a week, we have seen changes in the development of the children, especially those from the Anganwadi. Children are more active, they fall less sick, Kamla Bai said with a satisfactory smile on her face.