Health Education & Food
Supplementation Program (HEFS)
Uplift
International and its local Indonesian partner, the Indonesia Medical
Association (IDI), identified an urgent food need
among children in the
poorest of Indonesia’s Islamic boarding schools (‘pesantren’).
Pesantren provide ro
om, board and education for
students from the
poorest Indonesian families, who are unable to provide even these essentials
for their children. Pesantren, in many cases, are unable to meet the
children’s dietary needs. Some meals may consist of a small portion of rice
with soy sauce. The intent of the program is to serve 4 million serving of
Breedlove Harvest Pro Vegetable Blend
meals to the students as a nutritional
supplement to their normal diet. The program will serve over 12,000
students in 30 pesantren located in 5 districts in West Java, one of the most
densely populated areas on earth.
Uplift International has a long history of
working on socially responsible programs with many large corporations. This
program is no exception. APL, one of the largest logistics and container
transportation companies in the world, offered to provide free transport for the
75 metric tons shipment. APL will pick up the shipment at the Breedlove factory
in Lubbock, Texas ship it to the Port of Jakarta, Indonesia and then to each of
the 30 pesantren in West Java. The APL in-kind contribution frees up funds
allocated for shipping to be used to expand the scope of the program well beyond
its initial intent.
Within the context of the expanded program, the
use of the Breedlove Harvest Pro Vegetable Blend becomes a key part of a larger
and sustainable health program. IDI member doctors living the districts where
the pesantren are located, have volunteered to work with Uplift International to
develop a sustainable health and health education component to build upon add to
the original nutrition supplementation program. The new program has been named
Health Education and Food Supplementation program (HEFS).
An essential ingredient for the program’s
success is getting the students and the administrators of the pesantren to
accept the food. The Breedlove Harvest Pro Vegetable Blend is essentially
dehydrated vegetables and comes unseasoned making it easily adaptable to local
tastes. Providing food that is foreign and not to the liking of the local
palate, will instantly doom the program. What is needed is a socialization
program to introduce the pesantren to the Breedlove product while demonstrating
how easy it is to prepare familiar local dishes made with local seasonings that
can be enjoyed by the students while improving their nutrition.
In July 2005, another corporate partner joined
the program. The five star
JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, became the key
ingredient to make the socialization of the Breedlove product a hit. In July
2005, cooking demonstrations were conducted in three locations in West Java and
attended by the students and staff from each of the pesantren where they were
treated to an expert cooking class conducted by Dedi, a chef from the JW
Marriott. Not only was Dedi a chef at one of the best hotels in Indonesia, but
he was born and raised in West Java and knows the local tastes and the favorite
local dishes from the region. Prior to traveling to West java for the cooking
demonstrations with the Uplift International, Dedi developed five favorite local
dishes using the Breedlove product to show those attending how to prepare
delicious and nutritious local dishes.
The cooking demonstrations were a resounding
success and the students are looking forward to having more nutritious meals
consisting of their favorite of dishes made from Breedlove Harvest Pro Vegetable
Blend.
