Middle Schoolers Feeding their Community

The villages of Amanchia and Worapong, Ghana are sites where nearly 250 children ages 6 months to 6 years gather to attend preschools. As part of Self-Help’s School Feeding program, each day the youngsters receive a serving of  Quality Protein Maize (QPM) porridge with vitamins and minerals. This QPM porridge has greatly improved the health and well-being of these youngsters. Many children initially come to the school malnourished, with underweight bodies and dull minds.  Within a few months the transformation is remarkable and moving to observe.

And now there is a new development in the program that is both exciting and commendable. Junior high students from both of these villages have taken it upon themselves to learn good cultivation practices by growing their own QPM. But it doesn’t stop there! The students have also decided to contribute a portion of their harvest to Self Help’s feeding program!  We are thrilled by their generosity and concern for others. Not only are farmers in the community donating seed to the local schools, but so are their children and friends that are no more than 14 years old! They are able to start these initiatives because of a 95+ percent payback rate on all micro loans throughout Ghana that Self Help has given. The money has been reinvested into more rounds of loans and supporting grassroots efforts like the one started by junior high students.

As we have come to realize here at Self-Help, we cannot always predict how our programs will benefit people but nothing is better than when we see community members taking initiative and teaching the young people to do the same. Improving youngsters’ lives makes us proud to be involved in these communities!