Kenya
Soy Helps Feed Kids at School as it Helps Protect African Wildlife
A soy porridge continued to help the Anne Kent Taylor Fund feed children and protect wildlife in Kenya when NSRL and WISHH initiated a school feeding program in the Masai Mara, region of Kenya. The School Lunch Program used defatted soy flour to feed more than 600 children in two schools. Because children were getting meals at school, families had more incentive to send children to school and less need to support their families’ diets by hunting local wildlife. Based on the success of this pilot, organizers are eager to expand the effort to other communities.
WISHH sent a 20-foot container with approximately 10 tons of various soy protein products donated by Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) to Kenya. Soy flour, soy concentrate and textured soy protein were used to supplement the protein content of native foods including porridge, stew and "ugali," a popular maize-based starch. Soy flour was added to porridge, traditionally made with maize, cassava or millet, and also to ugali, a corn flour dough Kenyans dip into stew or relish. Kids and adults alike said the foods tasted, "as they should."
Bakeries, large and small, in Kenya are buying U.S. defatted sooy flour so they can offer healthier products to their customers. To help introduce soy flour in Kenya, WISHH worked with CHS, Inc., a Fortune 500 energy, grains and food company headquarted in Minnesota. WISHH has helped train bakers and meat processors on the benefits of soy, as well as how to use it in their breads and meat products.
Four tons of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) and defatted soy flour was donated to Catholic Relief Services to conduct a pilot program at two sites: 1) feeding 800 children at 5 schools in the Kibera slums of Nairobi and 2) in the Lakes Region, to 50 families affected by HIV/AIDS. The remaining 6 tons of product was devoted to meat processors and bakeries for use in product trials aimed at showing the economic advantage of using soy protein in meat and baked goods.
In addition, WISHH organized a soyfoods conference where visiting consultants presented technical information to food industry representatives about various applications of soy protein. As a result of this work, a local meat company will now be importing soy protein directly from the U.S.
