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“Mama, please cook the vegetables with eggs again for me! I want more of that yummy food!”

Tudes, a four-year old boy, said this to his mother after a Helen Keller International cooking demonstration in his village, part of the Oenino district in Indonesia.

Not long before, Tudes’s mother, Idamina, had found it difficult to prepare any vegetables for her family. The market was very far from their village, making it difficult to get healthy ingredients for their meals.
Idamina heard about the sessions Helen Keller International was leading and decided to join. She soon learned how to use her family’s yard to plant vegetables and raise chickens which would give her a sustainable, healthy food source for her and her family. She also learned to make plant-based pesticides and how to provide vaccinations for her chickens to keep the supply active and healthy.
Idamina and other women in the community regularly participate in a cooking demonstrations. This is where Tudes tasted the vegetable egg salad for the first time. This was just one of the new recipes Idamina learned, that enabled her to take more control of her family’s nutrition by showing her how to incorporate micronutrient-rich and tasty vegetables and eggs into meals. She says the texture and flavor of food has been very important in improving Tudes’s appetite, which is now better than ever. “My son has surely found his favorite food: vegetable egg salad. Thank you, HKI! ”