By Tamba Borbor, Public Relations Officer, WHH SLE 1079
Farming communities in Tanenahun and Mbeanahun sections in Luawa Chiefdom, Kailahun District have benefited from two days of cooking classes organized by Welthungerhilfe (WHH) on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th May 2021.
These activities organized under the Covid-19 Fair Trade Emergency Initiative for Sierra Leone (SLE 1087) which is implemented by Welthungerhilfe with funding from GIZ, are aimed at educating and training farmers about the nutritional value of locally available foodstuff grown by the farmers themselves whiles also ensuring a well-balanced diet habit within target communities.
Community multipliers were given the opportunity to learn how to prepare a total of six nutritious recipes which includes: Orlehleh made from cow pea beans; LANN Pumpkin flat bread; Pumpkin bread; raw banana and ripe plantain with potato leaves sauce; pigeon pea with ripe banana, white yam, cocoa yam with Krain Krain sauce.
According to Hawa Bockarie, the Manager of the LANN Plus component under the SLE 1087 project, , the essence of these cooking classes is to teach the farmers about various food that are readily available to them and how to prepare same in order to boost their immune system to enhance child growth and a healthy life.
“We want to diversify their diet and make sure they eat most of what they grow instead of always selling the products and eating only rice,” Hawa explained; adding that the community multipliers earlier trained by WHH are engaged in training this new set of farmers.
She noted that farmers who are been trained during these cooking classes can raise income from selling these recipes in their communities.
Tamba Gbondo, WHH SLE 1087 District Coordinator for Kailahun highlighted cocoa value chain and LANN as integral components under the project which sets out to target 3,800 farmers and 15,000 beneficiaries, respectively.
“There are six recipes being promoted during these practical cooking demonstrations which have socio-economic value. We also encourage them that these local products are readily available in their communities with more nutritious value,” Gbondo explained.
He urged the farmers to “eat more and sell less” which is the LANN flagship approach aimed at boosting farmers’ immune systems with emphasis on a balanced diet.
One of the Community Multipliers from Tanenahun section, David Kamara expressed thanks and appreciation to WHH for the knowledge and skill acquired which now gives him the opportunity to train farmers in other communities.
“These local foodstuffs we prepare in various recipes gives us more vitamins and nutrients that boosts our immune system and provides us a range of food choices unlike in the past,” Kamara stated.
He noted that they can also generate income from selling the various recipes to support their families and personal needs, acknowledging the role of Lizard Earth as a partner to WHH for brining about the invaluable support.
Miatta Ellie, a female Community Multiplier said they are now well equipped to pass on cooking knowledge to other farmers in the community having been trained by WHH before.
She named the various local products used in preparing the six nutritious recipes which includes Corn, Flour, Banana, Plantain, cow peas, ginger, garlic, palm oil, groundnut oil, pumpkin, yam, etc.
“I can now engage in business by selling these local food recipes in my community to generate income for myself while catering for my children’s needs,” Miatta informed.
During the two-day cooking demonstrations, there was plenty of food available to the community with every household having more than enough to eat after all the recipes were prepared.
The remaining raw foodstuffs and condiments were also shared amongst the community people by WHH Field Staff as a policy of boosting the local farmers.
