Alioune* sweeps the floor of the Koranic school, the room that we use for the church’s malnutrition program in this slum area in Dakar. The beautiful coastline in the distance stands out against the sea of corrugated iron with wooden huts. The sun-drying fish attracts a huge pest of flies. This place, a home for a group of fishermen and a mixed community of refugees and poor people who have sought refuge in the city, is where the church of Alioune started its social project.
All children under the age of five have been screened for malnutrition and if their weight is too low, they are admitted to the nutrition program. With a number of women from Alioune’s church, we provide information to the mothers and we provide nutrient-rich porridge and vitamins. Although the room has been swept well, the flies soon find the vitamine syrup. Alioune coordinates the program and makes contacts in the neighborhood.
Malnutrition has many causes, including many social problems. A teenage mother who has difficulty breastfeeding, a single mother who is on the market all day and has no time to feed her toddler, a mother who has not yet dealt with her own trauma of fleeing. It is a tough job for the church, but Alioune is in good spirits. “It is our calling as a church to take care of the weak and poor, so a feeding program in this slum is exactly what we want to do.”
