Kick Out Taboo Food and Promote Legumes at Uvira

Location: Uvira, South Kivu, DR Congo
Project Start Date: September 2008
Expected Completion Date: September 2010

Project Concept:

Due to the ignorance of the population and the desire of the men to dominate women, the customs of Bafuliiru and Bavira tribes forbid children and women from eating some meals on the pretext that this is 'polite', and the men lie that the consumption of those forbidden meals are dangerous especially for children and women and not for men.

Also, the conflict armies, which fought for 10 years, destroyed Congolese income, healthcare, nutrition and natural resources. Today the quality of life is very low and children and women are most affected.

The forbidden meals are spinach, eggs, liver, heart, tail and legumes. It’s also forbidden to share some meals with your parent's children, father or mother in law, son in law or daughter in law.

It’s also forbidden for pregnant mothers to eat eggs and spinach on the pretext that she will bear a child without hair and will not have energy. This bad practice comes from local elders and preservers of this custom who continue to observe it and endeavour to carry it on to future generations.

We discover that this custom is a major cause of the malnutrition and poverty in our community because women are not motivated to cultivate legumes or breed the animals to produce food they will not eat.

40% percent of rural people become malnourished, 87% of women are very poor and 67% of child mortality are caused by this bad custom. There is no reason to forbid women and children from eating these foods or from sharing their meals with some family members.

Detailed Project Description:

A. Taboo food

We propose to reduce the consequences of customs by organizing workshops, conferences and providing seeds to rural families.

During the conflict armies, the population didn’t have access to the food. The most affected are women and children. Until today many families especially in the countryside must eat very poor food, and only once a day (generally cassava with cooked leaves which cause konzo disease). The custom forbidding women and children from eating some meals only exacerbates this further.

Nutrition in nursing and pregnant mothers is extremely important to the future health of children. Eggs are a wonderful source of protein to a nursing and pregnant mother, especially when she is likely suffering from protein malnutrition (which causes kwashiorkor). Eggs are high in essential amino acid that are often missing from many other foods.

There’s no truth to the idea that eating eggs will produce a child without hair. Chicken meat and eggs are both good sources of protein, also are easily digested by children. Spinach and other leafy green vegetables are extremely good sources of vitamins that are essential to the health of growing children and pregnant and nursing mothers. Without enough vitamins (many of which are easily supplied by eating spinach) the mother is at risk of serious health problems, and her children are at risk of severe growth retardation, and various types of diseases caused by vitamin deficiency (for example, blindness due to lack of vitamin A, which is found in fresh spinach and many other leafy green vegetables).

B. Seeds supply

The bad quality of seed translates to less than 10kg of maize for 5kg of planted seeds

Among the traditional farmers in Uvira, selecting and saving seeds from their own plant harvest is by far the most common way of obtaining seeds for the next planting season.

But, during the conflict, our country and especially at the East of Republic where we are working, farmers lost, abandoned or sold their seeds, other farmers were obliged to eat seeds to survive. About 89% of seeds disappeared during the time of the conflict armies. Even in the local markets, seed is rarely found. Today poor farmers are in extreme need of seeds for food security and community development.

As is known, seed is the future for agriculture. For farmers it is the most essential input: without good seeds they have no chance for a good harvest.

The seeds the villagers do have is invariably is from a bad variety, or are so old they won't germinate. The productivity is generally very bad and discouraging.

In our strategy and goals, we want to protect local or natural seeds from imported seeds and to help farmers to access new variety more effectively. Our 11 committees implemented in the main villages of Uvira, will facilitate our staff and agents to reach farmers to help them to decide which variety will be produced, which member farmers are involved - both producers as well as buyers of the produced seeds. Production will be planned at advance, taking into account the demand at any given time.

We are proposing to create the centres for seeds where farmers will come and buy good quality of seeds in cheap market. Those seeds will be locally produced by the technicians of our organisation “APAA” and managed by members of the locally committees which will be established in the villages.

Objectives

The main objective is to stop the phenomenal “taboo food”, to decrease incidence and impact of it in Uvira.

Especially we would like to:

• build capacity of leading rural women and other local leaders kick out of Uvira the taboo food custom
• disseminate this information by radio and video projection to community
• establish local committees for monitoring and reporting of no respect of measures to kick out taboo food
• promote healthcare and nutrition to children and women
• establish and give equality chance among family member to eat all meals
• stimulate women to breed chicken and cultivate spinach
• grow the women rural income
• reduce high mortality rate of children, pregnant and nursing mother

Outcome

1. 24 leading women and 12 local authorities selected in 11 quarters will be trained on kicking out the taboo food in Uvira
2. 24 emissions at local radio will be organized to disseminate anywhere in Uvira
3. 12 committees will be implemented in principle villages of Uvira as Kigongo, Kalungwe, Muheta, Kasenga, Muhungu, Kiliba, Mangwa, Runingu, Sange, Nyamutiri, Bwegera and Luberizi
4. 65% of malnutrition of children and nursing mother will be reduced during 2 years
5. 70% of rural women income will increase
6. 46% of child mortality rate will decrease
7. establishment of gender equity

Activity Chart:

This project will be composed of two phases, comprising:

• End taboo food
• Promoting small vegetable gardening
• Promoting poultry

Workshops:

Project Duration & Schedule

Project Needs

Our agents and staff have been working voluntarily for many years. There is the need to for skilled labour. We would like to for help with institutional support during this project. Details below: