Community Health Worker checks thehealth status of children regularly

A child is taking a deworming pill

Malnutrition program at the Banda Village
In Banda village, TFT is supporting food and malnutrition programs. With the high poverty rate inthe village, there are many children with malnutrition. The program normally supports an average of
60 children. They are provided special meals with high nutrition 3 times a week, then Sosoma
porridge 5 days a week. The program is run with Rwanda’s Health Ministry. Community HealthWorkers monitor the health status of children enrolled in the program. The program also trains theirguardians on nutrition and encourages them to grow home gardens so that these children can beprovided nutritious meals at home as well. When the malnutrition program started, many children
were diagnosed with severe malnutrition. In recent years, the situation has improved as a majority of
the children are now diagnosed with only moderate malnutrition.

Where is Band Village?
Banda village is located next to the Nyungwe Forest National Parkin the south-eastern part of Rwanda. The park is near Lake Kivu
which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is one of theoldest tropical forests, Chimpanzees and 12 other primates andleopards are among the wildlife living in the forest. People in thesurrounding villages like Banda are subsistent farmers with limited
opportunities for cash income. Some of them will go into the forest
to poach wildlife. The Food and Nutrition programs at Banda village
employ people for cooking and transporting the food. This canprovide them with much-needed cash income so that they do notneed to go to the forest for illegal and risky poaching activities.
―2 ―We asked students and parents how they felt
about school reopening in Banda Village
Rebecca, 11 years old (3rd grade)
I really appreciate that I can come to school and eat porridge everyday. Now that we are getting support from the government, we caneat bread as well. I think we are lucky. I do not want to miss classes
anymore. I want to be a nurse when I grow up. That’s why I am
studying hard.

Jasmine, 16 yeas old (1st grade in secondary school)
My father died so my mother works for me and three other siblings.
She works for other people’s farm. Our lives are hard. I want to growup so I can work and support my mother. We can eat school lunch
now so I can study hard till I graduate.

Bonheur 13 years old (6th grade)My sisters and brother, we all eat school lunches. When schools wereclosed for long time, I could not study from the radio because we do
not have the radio at home. So my English level went down. Now that
we eat lunch at the school, I can study with zeal. I want to be a TV
journalist in the future.

Esperance 27 years old (a single mother of 2 children)
I work for other people and try hard to feed my children. My older

daughter was in the malnutrition program but now she has graduated.
She can eat meals at her pre-school. I am happy about that. I promise
to work for the program as a volunteer. Words can not express how
thankful I am for the program.

Daniel 67 years old
I have 12 children. Three of them were already married. The remaining 8
children go to schools. They all benefit from the program. For someone
like me who is poor, it will be very difficult to feed all of the children.
Without this program, I do not think my children could go to schools. I
am really thankful for the program.
―3 ―Situation and regulations - COVID-19 in East Africa

RWANDA

Strict regulations to prevent the spread ofCOVID-19

In Rwanda, the number of COVID patients rapidly increased in June from less than 100 person/day to3,000 in mid-July 2021. To respond to this, the Rwandan government put on strict rules. Curfew was set
from 6 pm to 4 am the next day. In the capital Kigali and other 8 districts, people could only leave houses
for substantial reasons. All the shops except food and medicine must be closed. As a result, the positive
ratio went down from 10% to 4% in August. In August, the government loosened the rules so that now
restaurants can open.

TANZANIA

President received her first vaccination

Tanzania's new President, Samia Suluhu Hassan who took
over the position following the death of the previous
President has been changing the country’s approach toCOVID-19. Her predecessor was a coronavirus sceptic andwas opposed to receiving foreign-made vaccines.
President Hassan calls out to the citizens to get vaccinated.
The first batch of vaccines arrived in Tanzania in late July
2021. TV showed when the new President was receiving
vaccine. In the interview, President Hassan said that she has
been receiving a number of vaccinations when she was ababy. So she knows they are safe and she believes thisTanzanian President Hassan receiving COVID
vaccination, the scene was broadcasted on TV.
Photo: APNews

19

vaccination can protect her from COVID-19.

KENYA

School teachers got vaccinatedFrom mid-June, the Kenyan government issued strict COVID-19 rules to 13 counties around the Lake
Victoria region, Rusinga and Mfangano islands are included in there as the positive cases of COVID-19
increased in the area. The rule prohibits movement from 7 pm to 4 am, opening markets except for foodand essential items, and meetings and sports events. This restriction ended at the end of July. But Kenya
as a country is experiencing the 4th wave of COVID-19. The number of positive cases has been increasing.
In Kenya, school teachers can receive vaccinations. They are a part of priority groups like medical workers
and police officers.

As of August 2021
―4 ―