Page 28 - Barefoot guide

STORY

GROWING FOOD FOR STRONG BODIES

The next day, the women gathered outside the community
centre. Joyce knew that Nelima was nervous – many of these
women had known her as a child, and she was worried they
wouldn’t want to listen to her now. Some of them did look as
if they’d already decided that she had nothing to teach them
– especially Mercella.
But Nelima surprised them all when she said that before she
talked, she wanted to listen to them. She invited each woman to talk about what food they were growing
for their families to eat. Most were growing maize, beans and at least one type of vegetable. The beans
were mainly for sale, not for eating.
Nelima complimented the women on the food they were growing. Then she took out her charts and
showed them the different food groups that the body needs to be strong and health, and especially
during this time of COVID-19 pandemic. She asked, “Can you see any gaps between what you are
growing, and what our bodies need?”
Some said that they were growing enough to feed their families, mainly a combination of maize and
vegetables. Others felt they needed to grow more.

The Rainbow Bowl

Nelima showed the group the ‘rainbow bowl’ of different
foods that Joyce had helped her to make. They’d risen early
that morning to gather food from Joyce’s garden, and added
it to the food Nelima had brought from her own garden.
Together, they created this beautiful platter.

Different colours of food grown and cooked for
a meal will give you a diversity of nutrients:
• Foods with purple/blue colour reduce the risks of cancer, stroke
and heart disease.
• Red-coloured foods reduce the risk of cancer and improve heart health.
• Orange/yellow-coloured foods help in maintaining healthy eyes, and boost immune system to fight
viruses.
• Brown/white-coloured foods help to fight viruses such as COVID-19, as well as throat and stomach
infections.
• Green-coloured fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of cancer and improve your immune system,
making you less vulnerable to diseases such as COVID-19.
“It’s wonderful that you are growing food, but to be strong we need more than just a few food crops,”
Nelima explained. “Strong bodies need to eat from a rainbow bowl. The colours show what nutrients each
plant has. If we eat all the colours, we’ll get all the nutrients we need. It’s important to have a variety of
foods – not only different colours, but many different plants.”

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