Save the Children, an international
non-profit organization, recently concluded their two-year Livelihoods and
Improved Nutrition for Kids (LINK) project in two sub-districts in Bener
Meriah, Aceh, Indonesia. LINK successfully improved access to key health,
nutrition, and agricultural livelihoods inputs and services, and mobilized key
actors locally, benefitting 5,735 households. Below is one women’s story about
the most significant change she has seen in her life as a result of this
project:
Asnaini is a mother of three children, and lives in a modest house
in Desa Fajar harapan, Bener Meriah. She has an 11 month-old baby and two other
two children, aged 8 and 11, who attend school. Her husband, like most other
villagers, works on a coffee farm. Next to their house is a small garden of 20
square meters, containing celery, spinach and other vegetables.
Through the LINK program, Asnaini and some 2,500 other women
received vegetable seeds, learned about composting, fertilizing, and pest
control.
“My husband and I never thought that the small piece of land could
be profitable to us,” Asnaini said. “We never made real use of it. We planted
celery but because there was no fence, chickens would come in and pick and destroy
the plants.”
“Now we plant spinach which only takes a month to harvest and we
can earn around 300,000 to 450,000 rupiah (US$33 to US$50) per month. Through
the home gardening program I can provide my children more easily with healthy
nutritious food and also have a more consistent additional income which I can
use to buy my children’s school uniforms and supplies.” Asnaini said.
Asnaini is not only happy to be able to provide nutritious food
for her children but through her role as a posyandu kader (volunteer community health worker) she is more
knowledgeable about childhood nutrition and children’s healthy development.
“I am really grateful for the training that I received from Save
the Children about Posyandu management.
As a kader I used to think that
Posyandu is only about weighing
the children, but now I know that there’s more to it. It’s an opportunity to
provide counseling for the mothers about child health and, most importantly, I
have an important role to ensure that children get the regular immunization.”
Asnaini said.
