Children

A long walk for breakfast

At 10:30 every morning a large bell is rung at the Laura Llokolloko School.

The doors to every classroom open and the school’s students begin to pour out into the large courtyard that doubles as the school’s soccer field.

The children race across the courtyard and up a small hill to form a line behind a large pot where parents are waiting to dish out breakfast. Today the menu consists of oats and quinoa – a local grain that is high in protein – boiled in milk with a package of biscuits

The children receive their breakfast and scatter around the school yard to eat, taking up positions on top of the playground slide, in the shade, or in a large group beside the school’s kitchen.

Samaritan's Purse has been sponsoring school breakfast programs in the Bolivian Altiplano for the last year. After Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes were distributed to children in the region, school officials asked about what other programs Samaritan's Purse could offer to the children.

A study was conducted that showed that 35 per cent of the students in the district were chronically malnourished, affecting school attendance and average grades. Samaritan's Purse worked with local parents to develop the school breakfast program, providing instruction in developing menus that featured nutritious locally grown foods as well as in preparation and safe storage of the food.

“This program has been a real blessing,” says Felix Choque, director of the Laura Llokolloko School. “It has motivated the children to come to school everyday and when they’re here they are more dynamic.”

In an area where many of the students have to walk up to two hours to get to school, ensuring school attendance can be very difficult.

“Parents now make sure that their children come to school, if only for the meal,” says Choque, “and the children are never late because they don’t want to miss breakfast.”

The goal of the program is to lower the number of chronically malnourished children by two per cent every two years. Currently 2,150 children are receiving breakfast at 70 schools throughout the Altiplano.

Ways You Can Help
Pray Please pray that God would continue to use Samaritan’s Purse as we live out the love of Jesus Christ by feeding children.		Give Help us provide wholesome hot meals to children in need. Just $15 can provide a week’s supply of life-saving food. Donate Here.