Nutrition in Early Childhood Centres in Sri Lanka

Vijayakumari, is a 26-year-old married woman living in the Valakkalai village, in Vavunathivu DS division, Batticaloa.

Vijayakumari is very active and has two children, Laksmithan and Jeenutha. Lakshmithan is 5 years old and is currently attending preschool. Vijayakumari is a housewife and her husband is a daily wage employee involved in construction work. She joined ChildFund’s Lead Mother in July 2017 and participated in the Lead Mother training programs conducted under the ENHANCE project by Vavunathivu Development Organization, ChildFund’s partner in Batticaloa.  

Currently, she is conducting sessions on nutrition, personal hygiene and on keeping the environment clean for other mothers in the village. “After completely delivering the sessions organized by the VDO, I plan to conduct the same sessions to village mothers within the next two weeks. I have already informed the village mothers about the training sessions. On the scheduled day we hope to gather under a big tree and discuss about the training I received and the nutritional practices which we should practice at home”.

Vijayakumari says “Earlier, I didn’t have a good knowledge on nutrition. Now, I have adequate knowledge on nutrition, on better practices in cooking meals and connecting to age-related nutritional needs. I used to give sweets, murukku, and bottled fruit juices to my children which were bought from shops. However, after gaining knowledge from the training sessions provided, I have stopped practicing this habit. I prefer to feed my children homemade meals as it is safer and healthier. My children consume greens, vegetables and local eggs on a daily basis now and I cook it in a manner preferable to my children’s tastes.”

Vijayakumari has good personal hygiene and keeps the household clean. She provides separate cups and plates for each of her children and they have been taught to use slippers when walking outside, especially when going to the toilet. She also uses pipe line water and stores drinking water in air tight jars to improve hygiene.

Vijayakumari stated: “After gaining knowledge from the Lead Mothers training session. I’m very much interested in home gardening. I have now started a home garden near my home and there are peanuts, pumpkin, and green leafy vegetables in my garden. I am also planning to have domestic farm soon.”

Vijayakumari thanks VDO and ChildFund for the useful training related project in her village.