Babies fed up!

Hungry infants eat an excellent meal thanks to organic baby food brand Plum Baby and donations from mothers across the UK.

In South Africa poverty is a major cause of hardship, especially for the very young.  A lack of food causes major problems in later life.  In fact, malnutrition leads to stunted growth amongst some 22% of South African children aged 1-9. Compare this to the UK where the same proportion of primary school children is obese.

At Christmas 2009 UK baby food supplier, Plum Baby, teamed up with their own customers to address this hunger.  Plum Baby donated 50,000 servings of their finest baby food, while their customers, mothers from across the UK, raised money for shipping.  To the delight of some very hungry babies, the food was unloaded and distribution began last week.

The food is being given out at pre-schools, orphanages and drop in-centres across Paarl East in the Western Cape.  Plum Baby food is made from only the most nutritious, healthy ingredients and the mothers of the babies receiving the food have given very positive feedback.  One centre, Sarfat Community Outreach, reported that in a room full of babies, after the food was given out an unprecedented silence descended as 60 babies quickly polished off their first pot.

Poverty is not the only problem affecting young lives in South Africa.  With one of the world’s highest rates of HIV/AIDS, there are around 70,000 babies born with the illness each year.  For these infants to have any chance in life, they must have access to good food, but this is extremely challenging especially as mothers with HIV/AIDS often struggle to find work.  Some of the baby food was sent to the Butterfly Centre, a WER supported centre that provides help to mothers and children with HIV/AIDS which will be a great help to these vulnerable children.

In fact, the food has even proved popular with the one adult who has tried it.  As part of the customs clearance process, the port inspector had to open and taste a pot of the product.  Even though he only had to try one spoonful to verify the contents he went on to eat the entire pot.  His verdict?  “Delicious.”

This is not the first time Plum Baby has donated to WER.   Back in January 2009 a shipment of food was sent to Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, providing much needed nutrition for the children there and Plum Baby has just agreed to provide baby food for the next WER aid shipment to Haiti.