Early on, it became evident, that when children joined our nutrition program, many of these young people were not enrolled in school. This was due to either an inability to afford school fees and/or due to the lack of schools in the local community. To meet this basic need, in 2015, we founded the Idjwi Island Girls Academy, a free elementary school provided for girls in grades K-4 where Amani funds teacher salaries as well as materials and school supplies. The school provides young children a much-needed opportunity to not only attend our nutrition school feeding program, but also receive the vital education they need. Because tuition in Idjwi schools is $30 per year, which is roughly half of an average family’s income, most children— and virtually all girls—never go to school. The Idjwi Island Girls Academy was established to improve educational outcomes and provide a school in close proximity to the hospital. In fact, the school was initially housed in community homes and also a church in the village of Washiha which is near the hospital. The growth of the school has proven to be a great success, with 250 students currently enrolled in grades K-6. In the 2018 national examinations, the Academy students received the highest marks of any school on the island. With this in mind, Amani plans to add classes for boys and extend the current program through the 8th grade. Our first class graduated in 2016 and we are currently fundraising to build new classrooms after our school’s building and infrastructure was severely damaged in a severe tropical storm in 2018.

Amani has recruited another set of 68 community health workers for outreach to the community. They have four main roles: (i) identifying sick and at-risk persons within the service area and providing initial response (basic treatment an/or escalation to the hospital); (ii) educating community members about best health practices (i.e., proper hygiene, prenatal and postnatal care, encouraging immunizations, bed-net distribution and usage, sexually transmitted diseases, hydration and salts for diarrhea); (iii) capturing data about health issues on Idjwi; and (iv) broadly dispensing specific medications for certain neglected tropical diseases such as intestinal worms.

The nutrition program is a core component of Amani’s health program and consists of three areas designed to provide feeding and education components critical to improving nutritional outcomes in the region. Through our community nutrition program, we feed between 400-500 children daily at our hospital. In many cases, these children are moderately malnourished and have been referred to us by our community health workers. They are fed a nutrient enriched porridge and have their growth monitored until they can effectively graduate from the program. In addition, parasitic worms affect over 90% of the population, often compounding the malnutrition that nine in every ten children suffer from in the region. Our clinical nutrition program serves severely malnourished children who require hospitalization and frequently reach up to 10 children a day. A third feeding component is provided through our school nutrition program which is a key part of our community run school program. The community run schools offers a daily food program for young girls in the local community.

Finally, Amani Global Nutrition programs address other systemic causes of malnutrition by improving livelihoods, supporting families with our unique agriculture program where we train families on how to farm and harvest nutrient rich crops for food. This program serves anywhere between 100-220 people at a time and allows the community health workers (CHW’s) to provide additional training and care for any household with under nourished or malnourished children. Our health workers provide bi-weekly check-ups and offer insight and educational training into how to grow and provide nutritious foods at home. Since 2013, Amani has set aside three acres directly adjacent to the hospital grounds for ten “BrightStar” nutrition based agriculture centers that provide additional nutritional programs and training in various parts of the island. In addition to the land, Amani provides tools, supplies, seeds and expertise for members of the community to grow food crops. A portion of the food produced on the land is donated by community members to the hospital to feed patients and staff.