The 20,000 Calories Project
AJANO 2021 Pedu Children Survey
We surveyed 150 children in Pedu to find out what their greatest need is. Over 70% reported that food during their school vacation period is their highest priority.
We had discovered urban child food insecurity.
We decided to create the 20,000 Calories Project, because for each child, 1000 calories a day for the 20 days of their school vacation would be enough to replace the contribution of the school feeding program which is absent during school vacations. We also received advice on the nutritional content of the package from a nutritionist and agricultural economist.
Football Field Survey
Pedu Community Survey
Survey at Water Pump
AJANO 2022 Donation Drive
After the results of our survey, we embarked on a fundraising effort. We raised over Ghc 23,000 and also received donations in the form of bags of beans and bags of gari.
Special thanks goes out to Whytebage International and Abura MArket Women for their help.
Locally sourced food
Royal Aroma Rice and the other food items are made in Ghana
Sorted
Some donated foods (beans) needed to be refined to remove impurities
Repackaged
Rice, gari, beans, sugar were packaged into individualized ziploc bags
Individual Food Packages
Each 20,000 Calories package contained: 1 kg Royal Aroma Rice, 2kg Gari, 1kg Beans, Palm Oil, Vegetable Oil, Tasty Tom Tomato Paste enriched with Zinc, Cowbell Milk Powder, and Sugar. We wanted to provide individual packages so that each child would be certain to access the items. Packaging the items in resealable ziploc bags also encourages reuse of the bags.
Philanthropy
In August 2022, we were able to supply 400 Pedu children with packages containing 20,000 Calories of nutritious food
Creativity
We taught the children to reduce food waste by planting tomato seeds and rotting onions.
Some children got creative and colored the worksheets!
