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Nutrition Mission

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	Most Americans have their own homes, with bedrooms for everyone. But in places like Senegal, West Africa, it’s not unusual to find 50 people living in one house. This is a culture in which men often have multiple wives and large numbers of children. How are those families fed? With some help from the United Methodist Church – in a nation that is almost entirely Muslim.

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Nutrition Mission – Story:

The guests of honor at this makeshift rooftop restaurant in Dakar, Senegal, in West Africa, are all children. The menu is designed to make them healthy.

Mbwizu Ndjungu: “Sour milk with peanut butter ...”

… flavored by fruit from the native baobab tree. The nutrition program is part of the mission initiative of The United Methodist Church. Mbwizu Ndjungu saw a need in a largely Muslim society where it’s not unusual for men to have multiple wives and dozens of children.

Mbwizu Ndjungu: “They cannot feed them all. So what we do? We say we will feed these hungry children.”

So she has come to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital of Senegal, providing food and monthly visits from a medical doctor. But even with all she is doing, Ndjungu wishes she could do more. Especially when she sees the need in children like 11-month-old Careatu. He’s too weak to cry, says his mother. She’s not much better.

Mbwizu Ndjungu: “She will die. Look at her. She will die. As a church, what shall I do? What shall I do for this woman?”

For now, Ndjungu is doing what she can to feed children at four centers around the city, twice a week. And she is seeing the results in more ways than one. Through this program, 12 new churches have begun.

Nutrition Mission – Tag:

Ndjungu is glad the women have come to trust her enough to allow a television camera to take their pictures. Before she could even start this outreach program, she had to meet with the local imams for their permission.