Garazi Zulaika returned from Mozambique late last year. The Columbia University graduate student was in Africa for 6 months on a school project. A project that would ultimately mean a healthier community in the developing country. "Almost 69% of kids under 5 in Mozambique suffer from malnutrition."
In Mozambique, people eat lots of sweet potatoes. The problem is they eat white sweet potatoes. So Garazi's internship was to introduce a orange fleshed sweet potato which has more nutrients than its white counterpart and is extremely nutrient dense with vitamin A. It's an easy change, since Mozambicans already know how to grow and cook sweet potatoes. "They make soups and juices, they make purees for their children. But they also make sweets, like cakes with sweet potato. So it was really a group crop for them to have a nutritious version of."
Garazi did this by educating the women. They are the ones who plant the vines, harvest the potatoes and then cook them for their families. The women, most of whom are illiterate, will pass this information along to others and ultimately their children, by putting the information into songs, dances and skits.
The vine project was created by Helen Keller International. It's a worldwide organization that has 180 programs in 21 African and Asian countries reaching 100 million people annually. Garazi says it was an incredible experience to help people so far away. And to be so far away and feel at home. "I would definitely push anyone to do something like this because when you're young you don't get to do those things for the rest of your life."
For more information about Helen Keller International go to www.hki.org.
Written By Wendy Damonte
