Photoshop 3.0 8BIM iZ %G Child Cooked Meal Girl Hot meal School feeding School meals School Uniform Walking(
Consent Received7 20191127Z Bandarban\ Alikadam_
Chattogramd BGDe
Bangladeshi GSchool meals puts a spring in the step of women and girls in Bangladeshn © WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmuds Digitalt © WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmudx
Yonchi Marma (10) with her friends on their way back home from school.
Yonchi is one of 90,000 children across 4,100 schools in the Chittagong Hill Tracts who receive food from the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), to fight malnutrition.
While most of the country is situated in flatlands, the largely indigenous people of the Hill Tracts live at high altitudes and struggle to access food throughout the year.
Today, malnutrition in the Bandarban district is among the highest in the country, with 48 percent of children being stunted — compared to a national average of 36 percent; 40 percent of children under 6 are underweight, and 61 percent suffer from anaemia.
Ten-year-old Yonchi is currently studying in grade four in Morakhola Government Primary School. She is known as the brightest student and secures first position almost every year.
She is witness to the challenges her family, faces in providing her with an education and meeting basic needs. After school, Yonchi helps her mother with household chores to keep their small family's daily life running smoothly.
"Growing up, I did not have enough food to take to school" says Yonchi. "But now we get warm food in school and I am no longer hungry all the time."
Yonchi and her friends walk an hour to school each way.
"I have to do this for my future" she adds. "I want to become a doctor when I grow up so I can look after my mother who has supported me all my life."
Today, more than 10,000 girls receive hot meals in schools in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which not only helps quell malnutrition but is an incentive for them to attend classes, nurturing future dreams as doctors, nurses, teachers and even as a pilot.
Behind the scenes
In the school's kitchen, women rule the roost — chopping vegetables and churning ingredients to make a delicious meal of khichuri — a nutritious Bengali meal made of lentils, rice and vegetables. Not oz Seetashma Thapa C C
> ! "#$1%2A3Q
&4BCa'5SRbqr
I ! "1A#2QaBq$3R%4CbSrD&5cTs ? 44&NytRɏ8V=YTFG%J!Ϥhb"t(_! דGLXSV``E$MZy2 T
;hVYzR9.x,xF%W=~V,lJ|t}6nۥ8) P2)2bF彥ǰ;HH0{ ڻG \U.Դ쵤eHT("=0 e){Y,N&FI!S2( __'Պ^AZ: i|-ZUG͜×=f7LEE``ƍޑU1&W"Y=i#AKq,[Gj V,.7+J-{G,|7;ҿ^5gV{C[yZy@8wTDVXX4U*r폍픫.kMj|LǭIŮWAaXFVD/*].-yU@|GmUAwL{t
>ߢ6hѷ\_z Aڭ`փcɈP<y zmA3*VULS(~OltzȒDݹK]1h"dL&Cqvk}61n:_ZsfYQ=A@+ Ur&sCt_NۯW%c;NLxE,%`.a!>=#er4p*+ځ