In grade 3 the students learn all about papaya plants.
First, they learn about what a plant needs to grow. Plants need sunshine and water. The students learn the importance of roots and how plants get their food.
They also learn how fragile a papaya plant is and the importance of building a cage around the baby plant to protect it from dogs, chickens and soccer balls.
We then go into the school yard and show the correct way to plant a papaya plant and build a cage from corn stalks. The grade 3 students are responsible for taking care of this plant. They learn that a papaya plant grows very quickly and therefore needs lots of water, sunshine and organic compost.
The second step is learning about how nutritious papayas are. We start with a class on Vitamin C. We visit the market and buy all the vitamin C containing foods. The problem is not a lack of healthy foods in the market, but little knowledge on the importance of vitamins and a lack of money to purchase in the market.
We show the students all the good sources of Vitamin C and explain in basic terms what this vitamin does in our bodies. We also talk about what happens if we do not eat enough Vitamin C.
The students then make themselves a colourful poster of Vitamin C foods to take home.
The next stage is learning about Vitamin A. This class takes place on a different day. We once again show the food from the market.
We explain that it is easy to know what fruits and vegetables have Vitamin A by their colour. Good sources of Vitamin A are red and orange fruits and vegetables and dark green vegetables. We show the students all the examples. We also explain that eggs and liver are also good sources. The students learn how important Vitamin A is and the consequences of not eating sufficient amounts.
-night blindness
-stunted growth
-inability to fight diseases
We then have a cooking class with the students. We make fruit salads and papaya smoothies. We stress the importance of washing your hands before you cook. The students love the cooking class!!!!
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Our final part of this project is the students receiving a papaya plant and a bag of organic compost. BUT first we play a memory game to see how many foods with Vitamin A they can remember.
Vitamin A deficiency is a huge problem in the developing world. In Guatemala they fortify sugar with Vitamin A as this is the only food that they know the poorest part of the population consume in any quantity. However this is definitely NOT the best way to get a vitamin.
The students receive a picture handout to take home to show their family. The majority of the parents do not read or write and a visual handout helps them to explain what they have learned a school.
We purchase the papaya plants from a single mom in the village who has started a small nursery. It costs $2.50 to purchase one plant….the same amount as buying one papaya in the market. It is a way better idea to supply a family with a papaya plant that will give many, many papayas in one year.
In the last 6 years over 500 families have received papaya plants.
A brand new plant with it’s protective cage.
Less than a year old plants.
One year old plants.
