Francis Hannaway: Hunger Games in the Congo: Basankusu: Supplementary feeding program for malnourished children

I’ve become very involved in a project for malnourished children. Sometimes the problem is that the children are not getting enough to eat – sometimes they are eating, but only one type of food. The project, which is run by a group of Catholic and Protestant women, gives 52 children 3 high-energy, high-protein meals, three times per week, to supplement their diet, as well as giving the mothers training in how to feed their youngsters.

Francis Hannaway with the supplementary feeding
team in Basankusu - volunteers all

During my first visits, I saw them prepare milk from milk powder, to which they added sugar and vegetable oil. The second meal comprised of a porridge of corn-flour, sugar and ground peanuts. The third meal of the day was boiled rice, with beans and a small piece of pork.

I saw that they had a spring-balance for weighing the children and asked them to weigh one child so that I could see. The little girl’s shoulder-blades were sticking out and she had a swollen belly. She weighed 9½kg (21 lb). I asked how old she was and was told that she was already 5 years old! I almost cried. At 5 years old she should be at least 16kg … and more likely to be 20kg. She was there with her twin brother who was in a similar condition.

Judith Bonjembo took the malnourished and very underweight twins to her house on the days that the feeding centre wasn't open. We fed the children there and saw a marked improvement in the first month.

This is the video I made at Judith's house on the day our centre wasn't open.

We decided that, for a while at least, the twins should be supported for seven days a week, and Judith, one of the volunteers, said she would feed them at her home every day the project didn’t run. After only three weeks we saw a huge improvement.

The condition of protein-energy malnutrition is a serious condition – one child, whose mother withdrew her child, has already died. Simple infections can be fatal for each and every child on the programme.

Children enjoying some protein and energy rich food

The project – run by local volunteers – is funded by collecting money locally. They are just scraping together the bare minimum and are desperate for funds. I agreed to an initial payment of £400 (£200 initially and £200 after a month) from money collected in Middlesbrough Diocese, on the condition that I controlled their books … in other words, I wanted to see how all their monies were spent. They not only agreed they were quite pleased that someone would help them like that. The cost of food alone for one week is £200. It would be great to have sponsors for individual children.