Nutritious Snacks Come to a Poor Village

Ayman is a five-year-old who relies on his nutritious milk and biscuits from ANERA.

Toward the north of Gaza stands a small but dense village called Bedouin Village. Last year, sewage flooded the village. Many people died and residents are still suffering.

These calamities are most trying for young children, who are most likely to die from common childhood ailments like diarrhea, anemia and malnutrition. They are also vulnerable to respiratory infections as they are exposed, barefooted and hungry, to cold weather.

This village is where five-year-old Ayman and his family live. Ayman attends El-Ikhlas Preschool, a participant in ANERA’s Milk for Preschoolers Program which delivers a free fortified snack of milk and biscuits everyday of the school year.

"The main meal for Ayman and my other kids is bread and tea…We eat meat one time every three months. Even bones are very expensive," said Ayman’s mother. Ayman’s only regular meal with vitamins is ANERA’s snack.

"Now the kids are supposedly enjoying their winter break, although I think most of them are counting down days to come back to school. They keep asking and waiting for the milk and the biscuits,” said Ms. Ferwana, the preschool’s director.

The Milk for Preschoolers program has made a great impact in the life of Ayman and many of his fellow school kids in the village. Twenty thousand children in 164 Gaza preschools were supplied in the 2006-2007 school year alone.