Less begging, more learning with daily meals

Community members in Mboumba prepare meals for students that consist of U.S. commodities such as bulgur, lentils, vitamin A-enriched cooking oil, and dehydrated potatoes. Photo by Richard Nyberg, USAID/Senegal

“Ngir Yallah”, they say as they wander the streets and dusty roads of Senegalese towns and villages. “For God”, these youngsters aged five to 18 plead daily of travelers, visitors, and well-to-do residents.  At night after combining money and food items from a day spent begging, students eat and their studies begin. Such is the life of many traditional students throughout Senegal. 

Thierno Dauda Tall, the teacher of the community school of Bode sees direct benefits from the support provided by the USAID-funded vulnerable school program. Born in 1953, Tall has been a teacher since 1973, running this small school and facing the daily challenge of feeding his students and providing them with an adequate lifestyle on limited money he collects from students’ parents and what can be earned through begging.

“Today, my school realizes positive changes in feeding, hygiene and overall improved living conditions, “ Tall says. “Previously each year I would travel with my students to look for food and other essentials for the students, which would worry the children’s parents.  Today, this has all changed, primarily due to the food distribution program that allows us to remain in the school and concentrate on learning.”

The program, implemented by Counterpart International, supports 3,800 students in northern Senegal and aims to improve their living and learning conditions.  From January to September 2007, nearly 1.8 million meals were served to the children.  The project provided nearly 238 metric tons of food of which over 191 tons came from USAID’s Food for Peace funded Title II program.     

“The time that these children spend looking for food to eat in the village is now time devoted to learning and has increased the rate at which they learn,” says Tall.   “Every student now knows exactly what is for lunch and dinner, how it is prepared and understands how valuable this is, especially since food received through begging can make my students ill due to poor quality and hygiene which are usually ignored. Now the students do not have to go to bed and spend the night with upset stomachs and diarrhea.”

Primary activities of the vulnerable school program include school feeding, deworming of children, teachers and cooks, school, dormitory and latrine rehabilitation, health and hygiene education, as well as literacy, numeracy and vocational training for students.