Lean times, fatty meat

Clutching a plastic bowl crammed with pork, cabbage and rice, four-year-old Manh eats by himself, although he still sometimes nags his overworked mother to spoon-feed him.

“My son eats very well now. His weight has increased to 14 kilos,” the boy’s mother, Quang Thi Ngoen, says. “I cook him meals with fish, prawns, freshwater crab, other meats or eggs and many kinds of vegetables, which I grow in my garden.”

Belonging to an ethnic minority native to the highlands of Tua Chua district in Vietnam’s north-west Dien Bien province, Manh was once worryingly malnourished because his mother didn’t have time to take care of him properly.

The 26-year-old is the sole breadwinner of her six-strong family, growing rice in their field or taking on casual work. Due to poor health, her husband can’t work, doing the housework instead. The couple lives with their two children, as well as the husband’s mother and younger sibling.

“Manh wasn’t interested in eating, maybe due to his poor diet,” Ngoen continues. “I always cooked rice and vegetables or porridge with a little meat for him and his older sister.”

“If I had some cash from my work, I’d buy lean and fatty meat for both of them,” she adds. “But if not, I could only afford fatty meat.”

Manh with his mother and sister.

Thanks to World Vision’s village-based nutrition group, established with the support of the local authorities to help children like Manh recover from malnutrition, the boy’s health has improved remarkably since May 2014.

Local health workers run every group meeting to equip local mothers with knowledge of child nutrition and general health.

Ngoen says, “The health workers show us how to cook [nutritious] porridge.

“We enjoy taking part in quizzes and many other games to remember what we’ve learned. I feel happy and lucky to be in the group. We’re a close team.

“World Vision has also given me some vegetable seeds. I plan to plant a lot of cabbages and beans in my garden, which I’ll use to cook for my family and sell at the local market for more money.”

Manh is also excited to belong to the group. His mother says: “He remembers when we should go to the group. Sometimes I’m busy at home, so he reminds me about that.”

“At the group, he has porridge, fruit and milk, as do the other members’ children. He’s not alone there, so he eats more than at home.”

Despite still struggling with poverty, Manh’s mother is more confident about the future, saying, “We don’t have much money, but I now know how to take care of my children. I’ll take my son to the group regularly and follow the health workers’ advice.”

“And I’ll work hard to keep my children healthy and support their education. I hope I can pass on what I’ve learned to other women in my village because I want their kids to be as healthy as mine.”

Vietnamese text and photos: Trinh Thi Ly - Tua Chua ADP Development Facilitator.