Nutritional Initiatives
The Home of Good Hope in Namibia Foundation provides funding for operation of the Home of Good Hope Soup Kitchen. Each day, the Soup Kitchen feeds 800 vulnerable children, aged 18 months to 10 years plus a few high-risk older children. Many of these children are street-living orphans; some may live with a grandparent or unemployed/unemployable or sick parent. They have congregated in the Katutura district, and we located a Soup Kitchen there to serve them.
These children receive one nutritionally balanced, cooked meal a day, 6 days a week. On the weekends, nourishing sandwiches, a hard-boiled egg and banana are provided to each child. Despite this regular meal many children are still identified as having malnutrition, as this food is the only food they receive.
In the future we hope to build a structure that is equipped with a kitchen, which would allow us to cook two meals a day.
Volunteers from Canada as well as a number of other countries whose backgrounds are in Nutrition have helped with meal planning throughout the years. We have recently hired a nutritionist as an ongoing consultant. Children are weighed monthly and meals are planned according. This ensures a feeding program that provides a balanced diet with the appropriate nutrition.