When the project was first set up education was seen as a very important part of the necessary development for each child, but so many were ill nourished and finding it hard to cope with a long school day. Very soon it was realised that the children needed a good wholesome meal to give them the basic energy to see them through each day.
A food project was established to give each child a hot meal at lunch time. This would need cooks , kitchen , and a place to serve and eat the food.
A good number of years on a remarkable food project now exists. Based on a well coordinated , well managed schedule of daily meal preparation using local raw provisions all the children on the project receive a hot daily meal.
The local library provided a good base to serve and partake of the children’s favourite Injera , or a wonderful bowl of spaghetti bolognese . But soon the project out grew the size of the library. The kindergarten children attended a school complex about 15 minutes walk away so it seemed sensible to deliver “take away” style meals to them saving them the walk to and from the now well established food centre.
Although the library was in a good position within the community it was a logistics nightmare as the library was in constant use as it’s title suggests. So each day chairs had to be covered, floors swept and the reading area put back “as it was found “. Roll forward to 2015 and the library is now solely for the use of the food project on a permanent base. It serves as an office, feeding hall and can be used as a youth hall; somewhere the children can call their own. The children were very existed to get exclusive use of the hall and joined in to give it a much needed lick of paint .
The kitchen still remains on the Kebele compound and has had a new make over , with new cookers new cabinets and a new food preparation area.
