Nutrition Education Through Science Experiments
Poor nutrition is one of the causes of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, preventable cancer, mental health conditions, and cardiovascular diseases. According to UNICEF, high costs and low affordability means billions of people cannot eat healthy and nutritiously. This state of food poverty also affects our clients and calls for us to respond with innovative and inclusive solutions promoting better nutrition among young people.
With children from Mama Ngina Children’s Home, our volunteers, and Vanda Gatti – a Biochemist and one of our Directors, we kickstarted science engagement activities focused on nutrition by performing experiments with easy-to-find materials and food using a guidebook called “The Shopping of a Scientist” by Nutritionist Biologist, Sarah Branchesi. Through the experiments, the children can learn about the nutritional value of a variety of food in a fun and playful way, do the experiments on their own, and explain the function of the respective food. Therefore being more aware of what lies behind different kinds of food and how important it is for their growth and development.
The Invinsible Letter Experiment
This experiment demonstrates the anti-oxidative property of lemon. The children can write invisible letters with lemon juice and read behind the candle light.
JAY4T has scheduled a calendar of science engagement activities around nutrition and sustainable agriculture to work with young people in Kisumu and to contribute to food security. We are fostering behavior change through education and communication through this intervention while prioritizing child nutrition as the category with the greatest need. Additionally, our agribusiness social enterprise Sote Tule is working to increase availability and access to food among low-income households in Kisumu and gradually in other counties of Kenya through supporting local small-scale producers to produce more nutritious food and linking them to markets including the most food-insecure households. This is with great consideration of cost and affordability.