A bright morning in Bara Hamlet, in Mrs. Sabariah's stilt house, a persistent health cadre and Bara traditional women have gathered since eight in the morning. They are busy preparing food ingredients, processing fish and chicken into nutritious porridge.
This activity is not just a daily kitchen routine, but is part of the health outreach activities on September 25 2023. Around twenty-three indigenous people will join in the health outreach activities. This initiative is guided by Dewi, the Sulawesi Community Foundation (SCF) field facilitator.
"In this cooking activity, we will cook nutritious food. "Mothers can learn how to make nutritious food for their children later," said Dewi.
This activity is not just a cooking event. This is a form of smart practice in spreading nutritional understanding to indigenous women, especially pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, mothers of toddlers, and children. Apart from that, this activity also aims to increase people's confidence in processing and consuming the products of their own land.
Wilda, a nutritionist from Geneva Madani Indonesia, led a session on nutrition by showing her cooking skills. Even though she was assisted by traditional women, Wilda explained the importance of nutritious food well. “Nutritious food is the main source of children's growth. "Without nutrition, slow growth and difficulty absorbing new knowledge will occur," explained Wilda.
"On our menu today, there is chicken porridge, fish porridge and egg porridge which also contain elements of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Chicken and fish provide protein. "If you don't have one, eggs can replace it," he added.
After a struggle in the kitchen, a healthy meal was served. Chicken porridge, fish porridge, egg porridge and potato pudding are dishes served warmly by traditional women to their children.
Mrs. Ika, who has two sons, appreciated this nutrition outreach activity. For him, understanding nutritious food and how to serve it is very helpful in planning a healthy menu amidst limited village food ingredients. “It turns out we can rely on jackfruit to make jackfruit porridge. "All this time, we didn't know that jackfruit could be processed into porridge, even though the trees grow abundantly around the house," said Mrs. Ika.
Through this outreach activity, SCF and Geneva Madani Indonesia, through the Estungkara program from KEMITRAAN, encourage indigenous communities to trust their own produce as the main ingredient for processing nutritious food. This momentum is not only about today's activities, but also creating a nutritious menu plan from indigenous people's produce for the future.
