Rice in everyday meal now a reality

This is our food ... overjoyed kids haul off bags of rice for safe-keeping inside their classroom.

Children enjoy their lunch of rice and meat inside their classroom. Notice in the background a pile of rice bags which were donated to The Center by a Port Moresby-based expatriate businessman.

Penny Sagembo, TCC co-founder and matriarch, lectures the children on hygiene, which she said could start from washing their hands with soap and water before and after meals and after using the toilet.


By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children Care (TCC)


WE have just achieved something great for our kids here at The Center.

We are now able to serve them rice at lunch everyday, from Monday to Saturday, along with fish, meat, tinned fish or tinned meat, and of course, cordial drink.

Unlike before when they could only have rice for lunch four days in a week – that is Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday – kawkaw (sweet potato), sliced bread and tinned fish or cheap meat loaf, boiled greens and root crops.

It couldn’t be helped. This orphanage run by Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc, a community-based organization (CBO) at the ATS Oro Settlement at Seven-Mile, outside of POM, has no cash to buy enough food for the children.

The truth is that its only source of cash is the K400 monthly grant it began receiving from foundation WeCare! PNG in March 2009. This money pays for the food served to the children four times a week.

However, with 78 orphans and abandoned children under its care, the K400 monthly grant could barely support a decent lunch meal. It needed more.

But then, WeCare! PNG has served notice that the grant won’t be increased, with a discouraging advice to TCC not to take village orphans more than what it could feed.

But Hayward and Penny Sagembo – took exception to this.

They believe these unfortunate kids have become responsibilities of the community, and that being a community-based organization, TCC should not close its eyes on children who have joined the growing ranks of orphans from the settlement.

WeCare! PNG, through retired priest and founder John Glynn, earlier told me in an email that these kids are responsibilities of the community in which they belong. Therefore, the community should look after them.

Penny and Hayward agreed 100%, that’s why they are taking in every orphan and abandoned child at the ATS Oro Settlement – and feed them. They felt that since no one looks after their welfare, TCC should come out of its way and assume the job.

And now, the mouths it has to feed these days have increased to 85, as new orphans are being brought to TCC for whatever help they could get. Food, for instance.

It was good enough that one Port Moresby-based company – Pacific Towing Ltd – learned of TCC’s activities and offered it a monthly grant of K400 to support its feeding program. The money assistance started coming in last January.

However, Hayward and Penny, being the overseer of this facility, opted to save the cash for other needs. Otherwise, TCC wouldn’t be able to function at all, if not properly.

The monthly rice supply that I am talking about arrived two weeks ago like manna from heaven, courtesy of an expatriate businessman based in Port Moresby.

He pledged to provide The Center with at least 160kg of rice every month to cover the Monday-to-Friday lunch meals of the kids.

Special Saturday feeding is taken care of by individuals who sponsor the meal for this particular day, in which the kids are able to eat a more balanced meal of rice, meat or chicken, veggies, soup and other extras.

I expressed to our benefactor my wish to see the kids eat rice at least four times a week at lunch because they were only making do with whatever food TCC’s funds could buy. He said he’ll make it five-days-a week-lunch, thus the 160kg of grains.

Our benefactor did not think twice about making my wish a reality. The next day, a Saturday, he delivered himself eight bags of 20kg Roots rice to The Center. And the beneficiaries – the 83 kids --- rejoiced.

Each day since last week, our volunteer mothers have been cooking 8kg of rice for the kids’ lunch to cover the 83 kids who come to The Center for lunch. The food goes with tinned fish or tinned meat, and fish donated by another generous supporter – the High Energy Fishing Co Ltd – a Port Moresby-based fishing firm run by Thomas Kuo.

Thomas has promised to provide fish whenever the kids needed it. So the children’s source of protein has been secured.

Why did I pitch for this rice donation?

First of all, the guardians of these kids who could be their grandparents or relatives are also hard up to be able to feed them properly, or to feed them at all. They were left to their care without warning when their parents died – from AIDS, TB, cancer and other diseases. And violence.

Before they were brought to The Center, they would, from time to time, miss a meal, which could be breakfast, lunch or supper.

Would you like to believe that the TCC kids who attend schools in Port Moresby would usually leave their homes for their classes without taking any breakfast?

And when they come home at noon from school they don’t expect to have any food at all? And the only food they expect to see could be found at The Center. Any food will do, as long as it would satisfy their hunger.

Now, at home, they would be lucky to have anything at all for supper. Often, they would go to sleep with empty stomach.

Our benefactor felt terribly bad about this little story. He too could not imagine how those kids would survive the day without taking anything. He was thinking of his two young kids – a son and a daughter – when he estimated how much rice would be needed for the entire month’s feeding.

When he dropped off the stuff the next day at The Center, he had some moral-boosting cheering-up from his two children, who themselves had their first experience of giving to the needy children of their age.

The two young visitors distributed ice cream in sticks to all the kids present that day, and were thanked more than enough for doing so.

Perhaps, it would be an innocent but generous act they won’t forget as long as they live.

With rice now a major part of their daily lunch, the kids are now assured of various nutrients and vitamins that go with the grains, something that would gradually build their well-being, boost their health and make them better-thinking persons despite their young, tender age.

For all you know, a healthy well-being enhances the functioning of the mind. When the stomach is grumbling, the brain cannot function well, as in a car running on empty.

I don’t want to see this scenario in any of our children at The Center.

What about you?


Email the writer: alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg
freddiephernandez@yahoo.com
jarahdz500@online.net.pg

Support to The Center keeps coming

Indian expatriate Shiam Kattapuram and Hayward Sagembo, TCC chairman, discuss about the operations of The Center last Saturday.

Penny Sagembo, The Center's founder and coordinator, with expatriate visitor John Whitfield.

Indian expatriate Sajani Kattapuram demonstrating how to cook an Indian dish while volunteer mothers look on.

The new addition to The Center's kitchen tools: a new set of LPG cooking stove donated by a Filipino friend at Coral Investments Ltd.

Volunteer moms Barbara and Charlotte prepare the fish for vinegar-stewing, frying and smoking. The fish was donated by Thomas Kuo of High Energy Co Ltd, a fishing company.

Volunteer moms smoking the fish over a firewood stove.

Children wait in queue for the special Saturday lunch, courtesy of Sajani and Shiam.

Kids sit on the floor as they enjoyed their special Saturday lunch of Indian mixed rice, veggies and soup.

Sajani and Shiam distribute ice cream in cones to the kids while being assisted by volunteer moms.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children Care (TCC)

THE Center had some expatriate visitors last Saturday who expressed desire to help improve the lot of the 83 or so orphans and abandoned children under its care.

Indian couple Shiam and Sajani S Kattapuram, along with their staff at Trade Link International Ltd and friends, brought the day’s special lunch for the kids – a healthy Indian-spiced rice stuffed with veggies and meat, cordial drink and ice cream.

Sajani took the opportunity to introduce our mother volunteers to the wonder of Indian spices and why they have become permanent part of Indian cooking.

She said the spices that Indian people use in their cooking are actually traditional medicines that have been used by Indians since many centuries ago.

In modern-day India, people began incorporating said spices into their cooking, a practice that has become popular world-wide, to benefit more from their healing properties, Sajani explained.

Cinnamon, for instance, is good for the heart because it helps lower cholesterol level aside from making the food tastes better and produce nice aroma.

Curry leaf, another aromatic spice which is now becoming common fixture in Port Moresby backyards, has many therapeutic values and is commonly used in curry and soup dishes.

Sajani’s hubby, Shiam, is a certified practicing accountant and is running one of PNG’s chartered accounting firms. He’s also looking at how he can help The Center.

In fact, he had a first-hand feel of The Center’s activities last Saturday and had a grand time distributing ice cream in cones to the kids.

The Center’s second visitor who homed in at past noon was John Whitfield, general manager of Steamships subsidiary company Pacific Towing Ltd.

John’s visit last Saturday was some kind of fact-finding mission about the Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc activities. He wanted to know how he can best help the children, this time, on a personal level.

Already, John’s company is a major benefactor of The Center along with Digicel Foundation and WeCare! PNG.

And mind you, John drove up to the ATS Oro Settlement at 7-Mile in style: in orange cover-all get up and on a huge black bike!

Last Saturday’s sponsored lunch was also highlighted by three dishes cooked from frozen fish donated by another supporter, Thomas Kuo of
High Energy Co Ltd, a company engaged in fishing and fish export.

Thomas and John are actually friends.

Thomas offered to deliver 50kg of frozen whole fish last Friday but it was really unfortunate that we could only take in 30kg for lack of freezer space.

In fact, while we were able to cook 10kg of the fish last Saturday, we have to request our friend, the Filipino grocery Yes! Grocery at Gordon, to baby-sit for us the other 20kg in its freezer until we are ready to consume them.

Just call him about our fish need and it would be done, Thomas told me.

Anyway, another 10kg of frozen chicken wings are right now sitting in the same freezer next to the fish – courtesy of Papua Niugini Freezer (PNF) of Gerehu.

One problem that The Center has at present is its inability to access electricity. The last power line post at the ATS Oro Settlement has stopped some 500 meters away from where it is located.

So, until the PNG Power electricity service is extended to the vicinity of The Center, we would just be contented of asking our friends from time to time to keep for us whatever frozen fish or meat that may be sent in by donors and supporters.

Our kitchen section has a modest improvement: It now has a set of LPG cooking stove, donated by a Filipino friend at Coral Investments Ltd. The set, which came with a 13.5kg LPG tank, will be used along with our makeshift wood-fired cooking stove.

The Center has also found a friend in an American lady who works as stewardess in an airline company.

She would be arriving in Port Moresby middle of this week, but would be staying only in Port Moresby in less than 24 hours, owing to her flight schedules.

Upon arrival at the Jackson Airport, our new friend would like to go straight to The Center at the settlement to deliver a huge box of new pair of shoes for the kids, medical supplies and hopefully, funds to buy supplies of milk good for one month.

And lots of candies and chocolate bars. I told her that the kids have not seen a glass of milk for quite a long time now.

She emailed me earlier that she’s looking for people who could also help The Center one of these days.

She has asked about the health of our kids and I told her that most of them have not seen a doctor since they began walking. She said she’ll try to find some doctors who could do a medical mission for them.

Notably, the British High Commission has taken notice of The Center’s feeding and nutritional program.

A ranking consulate officer has informed me that they are considering the Tembari Children Care (TCC) as potential beneficiary of their funding assistance program.

Penny, The Center’s founder and coordinator, has confirmed that she’s in talks with the said consulate officer regarding a possible funding assistance that would support their program for the kids under its ward.

Our Saturday special feeding program has drawn a number of “unregistered” boys and girls. We found out that they were from the settlement sent by their parents to partake of the Saturday special lunch.

Penny and Hayward allowed them to stay for the lunch meal but had told them that their parents should try harder in looking after them.

This is one reason we’re preparing ID tags for our kids to immediately identify those who would be “gate-crashing” during the Saturday special feeding session.

The fact is, the news about The Center’s effort to feed its wards on a daily basis – and not just four times a week – Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday – has gone around the settlement like a bushfire.

Now they know The Center is not one like a flash in the pan.

And some settlement parents would like to take advantage of this, instead of doing something to feed their own children.

The Center’s stand is that the presence of children with parents still kicking like a horse would be giving too much stress on its very limited resources such as food for the orphans and abandoned children.

It has no recourse but to turn them away the next time they show up at the food queue.

Well, folks, that’s about it. We’re getting somewhere, don’t you think so?

For feedback: alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg
jarahdz500@online.net.pg

Manna from heaven

These are the eight bags of 20kg rice delivered to The Center by a surprise visitor last Saturday. He promised to make this a monthly donation to help the kids improve their health. Notice two cartons of cordial drink donated by Pacific Industries, maker of Gold Spot Cordial.

The jubilant kids hauling of their kaikai to a storage place inside their classroom. One thing sure is that they will now have rice meal at least five days a week.

These three pots are busy boiling special treats to the kids last Saturday. The first pot (foreground) is cooking special "misua" noodle soup; the middle pot is simmering with beef stew and the third pot is steaming with rice.

These moms are struggling to build strong fire to quickly boil the soup, the beef stew and the rice. A big fast-burning flame from a LPG stove should solve their problem. Attention donors who could provide the much-needed cooking LPG stove!

Volunteer moms ready their tools to serve the special Saturday lunch treat-- Beef Stew with lots of potatoes and carrots, "misua" noodle soup, steamed rice and cordial drink.

Children forming a long queue for the special lunch meal sponsored by individuals who would like to give them something different every Saturday.

Last Saturday's feeding gig was a special one for the kids as it was their first time in a long long time to enjoy a lunch meal of beef stew, noodle soup and steamed rice. - All pictures by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ



By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc


IT WAS a rare occasion for the children at The Center during the feeding gig last Saturday.

The Menu of the Day: Beef stew, with lots of potatoes and carrots, “misua” soup, steamed rice and cordial drink.

An unexpected expatriate visitor arrived with his two young kids – a daughter and a son -- and delivered several boxes of ice cream-in-sticks to the orphans. Mind you, this was enough for the kids to go high as they flashed those smiles again in their faces.

Our visitors also came in full force with 130kg of Roots rice in eight 20k bags in tow.

Requesting not to be identified in this blog, our benefactor told me that he hoped the children would now have rice at least once a day – at lunch – five days a week -- that is from Monday to Friday -- for a total of 20 days in a month.

“I will deliver the stuff every month so the kids would not run out of stock,” he told me.

I never expected that the foodstuff, which I requested from him the day before, would materialize in less than 24 hours.

Seeing him at his office in Gordons on Friday afternoon last week, I told him that I would like to see the kids eat rice everyday and not just on Saturday when I cook for them the especial lunch treat.

I explained that we would need to cook 8kgs of grains every day, five days a week, to cover the lunch for the 83 kids.

In short, if they are to have a meal with rice at least once a day, we would need two 20kg bags of rice every week.

Our good friend made a little computation and said: “I got some friends in the grains trading business … I’ll see what I can do.”

For quite some time until last Friday afternoon, I have been looking for individuals who could be potential rice donors.

The kids have been unlucky not to have rice in their meals simply because The Center just doesn’t have enough funds to buy the foodstuff.

It could only afford to feed the children with kawkaw, sliced bread and greens and this happens four days a week – Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

But anyway, it is food, and those kids who arrive from various schools in Port Moresby at noon would always expect to have something to fill their grumbling tummy. And they go straight to The Center; they know there is nothing to find at home.

The same thing goes with the pre-schoolers at The Center who have to eat after their classes. They will eat anything – bread, kawkaw, boiled green banana, what have you.

But thanks to our especial Saturday feeding, the little ones could at least have rice at lunch when I cook for them especial meal that usually goes with rice, especial soup, vegetables and meat – a rare treat from kind-hearted individuals who paid for, or shall we say, sponsored, the special lunch.

With the rice delivery to be made once a month, all lunch meals on weekdays would now be amply covered.

From our grateful kids, a million thanks, Andre!

Incidentally, a work colleague has pledged to buy rice every week for the kids.

But since there is now enough rice for the whole month, we requested him to convert his donation into tinned fish, or tinned meat, so the children would have a daily supply of protein.

He also pledged to donate a huge water container as kitchen water is difficult to have at the settlement where the Tembari Children Center (TCC) Inc is based. Thanks TJ!

And what a luck! When we opened my email yesterday, a Sunday, one of the 145 emails that downloaded had this message:

“We have learned a lot about the children … we want to help out The Center with regular supply of frozen fish, our company being a fishing concern.

“This way, we could help improve the kids’ nutrition.”

The offer came from Thomas Kuo of High Energy Co Ltd, who said they could make the first delivery anytime.

They only would require a freezer to store the fish, an item The Center doesn’t have. First of all, it has no access to electricity, as the last power line post stopped a kilometer away.

I emailed back to thank him, and confessing to him that I could only take in at least 10kg at a time, a day before the Saturday cooking is to take place. That way, I could unfreeze the stuff overnight, and processed for cooking at The Center.

Also, last Friday, the Papua Niugini Freezers (PNF) in Gerehu district donated 20kg of meat products – beef cubes and chicken wings. PNF is looking at ways to make the donation a regular affair.

On Saturday, I made stew from the beef – Vanuatu beef to be exact -- which was really enjoyed by the kids because they ate it with a good serving of potato, carrots, rice and “misua” soup, and lots of cordial drink, courtesy of Pacific Industries, bottlers of Golden Spot Cordial drinks. Thanks John!

As to the box of 10kg of frozen chicken wings, I had to deposit it in a freezer at the Filipino-owned Yes Ltd mini-grocery in Gordon as I don’t have enough freezer space in my fridge at home. Thanks Madam Maileen!

Now that the regular rice and protein needs of the kids have been richly covered, we would like this time to see them drink milk at least once a week, maybe during a week day.

Milk is a complete food, that’s what nutritionists and doctors say, so it is really a must that they take this food at least once a week to supplement their daily rice-fish intake.

But to do this, we would require at least 20 liters (packs) of milk or a similar amount in powder form. One liter is enough to provide four or five kids with a glass of milk each. To cover the whole month, at least 80 packs of 1 liter would be needed.

Another good news is that Filipino businessman and immediate past president of the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) Joey Sena is about to deliver to The Center two wheelie rubbish bins, something similar to that of what the NCDC uses in its sanitation program in the city.

The Center is also instilling the young minds of its ward about cleanliness in their surroundings, and the two rubbish bins would help a lot in achieving this.

The Center also needs about 50 plastic chairs for its pre-schoolers. Divided into three groups of 15, almost half of them would squat uncomfortably on the vinyl flooring during the entire class session.

We are now about to complete the ID tags of the kids, volunteer teachers and moms. We would like to request from potential donors for at least 100 pieces of lanyards or ID tag hooks-laces which the kids would carry while at The Center. It would cost us more than K100 to get them, an amount which we still can ill-afford. Corporate donors may print their company logo in the lanyards.

These are the immediate needs, so far.

Certain individuals react to this kind of appeal with urgency, and when they do, they see to it that something concrete turns out. Take the case of our rice donor, who responded in less than 24 hours after we told him the story of the little ones.

But there’s somebody in the US who, like a lightning flash, responded to an earlier appeal for a second-hand laptop.

When Rishabh, TCC’s Founder and Co-President (who himself is studying in the US) posted an appeal, David Ulg Ketepa of Detroit, Michigan emailed to him, saying he’s sending his one-year old laptop which is just sitting somewhere in the house, along with a digi-camera and blank CDs.

Penny, The Center’s co-founder and Co-president, badly needs a laptop in preparing the individual profiles of the kids – and they are 83 of them. Right now, she does it manually – meaning writing the evaluation paper by longhand.

Well, things are looking up for our kids at The Center.

We would not call it a success this early, as it could only be like a “flash” in a pan, which we pray hard was not. But many of those who came forward to help would like to see The Center succeed. Its success is theirs, too.

But what we can say is that we at The Center are gradually meeting the nutritional needs of the children – from just a lunch of kawkaw and sliced bread four times a week to partial rice lunch meals with tinned fish, meat and more.

We are also meeting their emotional needs of being wanted and loved, and cared for with selflessness by our benefactors.

Our Saturday feeding is drawing enthusiasms from individual sponsors, who also wanted to help improve the health of the children, just like they would do their own children.

With that, the money they chipped in is, for sure, money well spent. There’s no way that they could lose because it is not gambling; it is helping.

In helping, there’s no way to lose, but instead, you earn some credits for your entry to Heaven one day along with a 24-hour special pass to the hearts of our kids.

It’s a win-win bonanza for all!

Email the blogger at alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg
jarahdz500@online.net.pg

The Center appeals for a laptop

This photo and below, Hayward Sagembo, TCC chairman, interviews the kids as part of the ardous task of profiling them.



Penny Sagembo, The Center's founder and coordinator, lectures the kids on the importance of washing hands regularly with soap and water during last Saturday's especial feeding gig.

Volunteer moms are busy with pots and dishes just before the especial lunch meal of Masala-chicken soup is served to the kids during last Saturday's feeding session. The meal was sponsored by RY Hypermart General Manager CC Ang and his family.

The Center, where all good things are taking place for the 83 orphans and abandoned children. It is here where half of them are getting their first taste of education as pre-schoolers. Also, this is where lunch food is available for them four times a week, without fail. - All pictures by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, A Friend of Tembari Children Center (TCC) Inc.


FROM HEREON, I would refer to Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc as “The Center” in this blog and the ones coming after.

***

THE GROWING number of orphans joining The Center could mean a lot of things.

One of them could be that their parents had been sick but did not have access to basic healthcare.

Illnesses such as cholera, malaria, HIV/AIDS, heart and lung diseases are very curable these days.

Sadly, however, thousands across the Papua New Guinea are still deprived of medical attention that could save their lives, one way or the other.

Many of them died before reaching mid-life.

Or maybe that the departed parents died from violence, an occurrence which is common place in this country, where tribal wars and occasional murders have become a staple of village’s violent life.

With many men keeping two or thee spare wives at home, the increase in the extended household’s membership is a matter of course.

It goes without saying that they would be leaving behind several children – orphans, in short -- by their poor helpless wives the moment they vanished from the face of the earth for good.

About two weeks ago, two parents who turned out to be guardians, or custodians, of five brand-new orphans came to The Center to register their wards.

So, from the 78 that The Center is caring for, the number of orphans as well as abandoned kinds under its care has risen to 83.

But before new entrants could be officially counted as members of The Center, and thus receive benefits in one way or the other, they have to be profiled individually.

Also, every funding entity always requires care groups seeking money to present a comprehensive history of every child under their care.

Considering these, it will be a lot more efficient and easier if the document is computer-processed, and not typewritten or handwritten, which is what founders could afford to do so far.


And at the moment, The Center’s lack of properly prepared children’s profile is handicapping it in its bid to seek financial help.

It is due to this handicap that the Center has missed out on a potential funding grant a number of times.

So far, only WeCare! PNG and Pacific Towing Ltd have bothered to provide a grant of K400 a month to subsidize the food needs of the children.

Profiling 83 kids and updating such on a regular basis could be a hell of a job, considering we do not have a computer. On top of profiling, keeping the records of each and every beneficiary and keeping it updated all the times is even bigger task.

It is for these reasons that we are appealing for a lap top for use at the Center. A PC would not be practical for the Center as there is no electricity at ATS Oro Settlement at 7 Mile, on the other side of the Jackson airport, where the TCC Center is located

The power lines stopped a kilometer or so from the TCC Center at the heart of the settlement. And their prospects of getting energized remains to be seen.

It is also here where The Center operates its pre-school for some 45 toddlers, part of the 83 kids being cared for. The other half of the ward is attending 16 schools in different levels in Port Moresby. At noon after classes, they home in to The Center for whatever food is available at the soup kitchen.

A laptop will be very handy to carry around and could easily be recharged where there is a power outlet.

At night, Co-Founder Penny could work the records of each and individual child even in candlelight or kerosene lamp. All she needs to do is tap it out on the keyboard whatever profile item she needs to build or update despite the dark.

The next day, she could recharge at her workplace at the Boroko-based NGO Save the Children, Inc where she works as sexual health care counselor.

We hope that this wish to get a laptop may become a reality because somewhere out there, someone might have a laptop which he no longer uses after upgrading to the latest model. And he may be willing to donate this item to The Center to help it accomplish things that would better serve the kids.

A refurbished, no-longer-used-but-still-efficiently-working laptop is all TCC needs.

Many such laptops may be gathering dust in the corner somewhere. It is just needed to be re-commissioned for more worthy undertakings.

In case anyone would like to assist The Center through a laptop donation, please contact us.

We wish you all a pleasant working day.

Clean little hands are good to see

Penny Sagembo showing to the children the step-by-step process of washing hands effectively with soap and water


By AFLREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children Center (TCC) Inc

Before taking a meal, Hands washing is the good habit to avoid diseases. We just tries to show it properly to tembari children. Mr. Rishabh bhandari is also manage the things.

These children (pictured) took a short timeout from playing games and reading books to listen to Penny Sagembo, the founder and matriarch at the orphanage Tembari Children Center (TCC), explain why washing hands thoroughly before and after eating foods, or using the toilet, is important.

Using two sets of basin with water, Ms Sagembo then showed to them the proper way of cleaning hands – step by step -- with soap and water and how to air-dry them after the wash.

She told them that washing hands regularly, whether they are at home or in school, is one way to avoid contracting cholera, getting diarrhoea or in simple terms, stomach ache, and other illnesses.

Later, the children tried to do it for a feel, and one kid complained that they have no ready water at home in the settlement as the tap was far from their shanty.

The little lecture took place shortly before the 76 orphans and abandoned children took their special lunch meal of masala-chicken soup last Saturday at TCC at ATS Oro Settlement, 7 Mile, just outside Port Moresby on the other side of the Jackson airport.

Prepared and cooked by a volunteer, the soup lunch was sponsored by RH Hypermart General Manager CC Ang and his family.

Malnutrition ‘ugliest form of child abuse’

Hayward Sagembo with the children at The Center.

Children form a long queue at The Center's Saturday soup
kitchen where a special lunch meal is served, courtesy of individuals who sponsored the day's food.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A Friend of Tembari Children Center (TCC) Inc

“MALNUTRITION is child abuse in disguise. It is child abuse in its ugliest form.” This was stressed by Rishabh Bhandari, Founder and Co-President of Tembari Children Care Inc., in a remark during a special feeding session for some 60 orphans and abandoned children at ATS Oro Settlement at Seven Mile on Christmas Eve.

“Their missing out on the basic balanced meal and adequate healthcare is the ugliest form of child abuse … this cruelty must stop,” Rishabh said.

He further said “lack of proper nutrition, which could either be malnourishment or malnutrition, makes a child dull; and this could later affect his intellect as a person.”

Rishabh said “Our six year old TCC continued to struggle with funds to buy food for the 78 deprived children under the care of TCC. Whatever (measly) funding we receive goes straight to the food budget, which means we can’t afford to use it on other equally-pressing concerns like paying our volunteers’ allowances, especially those who teach our kids how to read and write.”

The 78 kids are fed once four times a week and each feeding is allotted only with K40 from the total K800 monthly support received from WeCare! and Pacific Towing Ltd, taken together. In other words, under this budget, there is only K0.51 for each child per meal.

Rishabh further said, “We’re only a small, unknown entity but we got a big heart for our orphans and abandoned children. We are just a small tree in a wild jungle that we are almost unseen in the dark. We are practically fighting against big, known charity groups or care groups for the attention of institutional donors and funding entities.”

Hayward Sagembo, Co-Founder and Director of Tembari Children Care also spoke on the occasion. He said, “our being ignored alone by aid donors further worsens the abuse our children suffer.” He appealed to sponsors and donors to come forward and help relieve the orphanage of its healthcare problems. Providing the children with decent meals was one area that aid donors could look into, and maybe consider, for permanent assistance, he said.

Hayward also thanked the growing number of individuals who are willingly sponsoring Saturday lunches for the TCC kids, in response to Rishabh’s and Freddie’s email requests.

Great masala-chicken soup

This mom used to cook rice for the kids with a small pot. Last Saturday, when she arrived at the center for the day's cooking, she was pleasantly surprised to see two huge, shiny pots sitting together on the table, courtesy of John Whitfield, GM of Pacific Towing Ltd. She wanted to have a pic with one of them for posterity.


Two mothers begin the tough job of building fire to cook rice.

Three is better than two ... cooking 8kg of rice in a 30-liter pot over a makeshift, slow-burning firewood stove is never fun.

A long queue for the great Masala-Chicken soup, a special lunch meal of the day.

Kids await the Masala-chicken soup to be served.

Can't just wait for the steaming soup.

Nice to have a little picnic under the mango tree ...

Browsing our picture books while waiting for our soup ... we are told it's a new dish from Chef Uncle Fredo.

Melanie, 8, looks like she doesn't want this Coleman cordial cooler to be separated from her. Donated by our good friend John Whitfield, GM of Pacific Towing Ltd.

Hmmm ... what is left of the great Masala-Chicken Soup sponsored by our good friend CC Ang, GM for RH Hypermart, and his family. - All pictures by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

OUR SPONSORED especial Saturday lunch meal continues for the kids at the orphanage Tembari Children Center (TCC) Inc at ATS Oro Setttlement, 7 Mile, on the other side of the Jackson airport.

It was a great soup that we came up with last Saturday (Feb 26).

In fact, when I came home that afternoon from my cooking session with volunteer moms, I was inspired to repeat the recipe for my dinner. Yummmmy!

The volunteer moms are learning gradually the art of stir fry cooking, having been able to learn the new kitchen skill hands on. I have encouraged them to do the cooking themselves, closely following my so-called 1-2-3 cooking instructions.

The masala chicken soup was a great idea from my housemate Malaysian Narasiman Muniandy, our printing boss at The National newspaper. He suggested that I also introduce to the kids’ palates an Indian concoction.

Masala is actually a powder mix of various spices that included cinnamon stick, a favorite spice of mine and four other spices best-loved by Malaysians and Indians.

Volunteer moms and the kids couldn’t help but wrangle a third helping of the soup but, sorry, there were still a few kids that had yet to have their turn at the tall soup pot, waiting for soup cups in the hands of other kids to be emptied and cleansed.

The kids who had the first chance to get their scoops of the debut reddish soup must have taken a great time finishing their share, that when we ran out of cups, the kids on queue had to wait a few minutes.

The center is at the moment trying to organize what it needed in the kitchen, something it has never done until I introduced to the kids what I have called special Saturday lunch meal paid for, or shall we say, sponsored by kind-hearted, generous individuals.

Sponsors are doing this to let the kids enjoy at least once a week – on a Saturday – a delicious and nutritious meal.

Thanks a million to RH Hypermart general manager CC Ang and his family for sponsoring last Saturday’s lunch gig with the kids. It was his generous funding that enabled us to come up to the day’s menu – masala chicken soup, stir fry Chinese cabbage/carrots/mince pork, and the dish of the day – chicken wings in saucy sweet gravy and steamed rice.

The truth is that when he learned of my recipe, himself a food lover, he did not hesitate to chip in some more kina so I could achieve the great taste that the recipe packs.

From the previous Saturday’s attendance of only 51, our young diners shot up back to a high of 76 out of the 83 expected to show up, but didn’t for various reasons.

Two huge pots (30-litre capacity each) debuted for the lunch meal, along with a big water cooler (Coleman ski) courtesy of John Whitfield, GM of Pacific Towing Ltd.

John saw in a picture I emailed him earlier a small Coleman cooler that used to hold our cordial drinks. He thought that it won’t hold much drink to cover all the kids at the center, plus those others helping out in the soup kitchen.

Last week, John sent a 19-litrer Coleman ski and the kids were quite excited about it, knowing that their cordial will continue to flow without interruption.

Several new kitchen utensils, cups and bowls and plates were also used for the first time for this meal, with money used from the pocket of Robert Palomo, a manager with the Red Sea Housing Construction

Thanks also to John Villalba, a chemist at Pacific Industries, who sent bottles of Gold Point cordial drinks, a popular drink products the company produces here in POM and exports to our Pacific Islands neighbors. John and his wife Rachel are permanent Saturday sponsors and so is Narasiman, who has taken the second Saturday of the month.

Also, last Saturday was the first time that our young diners had steamed rice with delicious and nutritious side dish and a matching soup.

This was not the case before. They would only have sliced bread and tinned fish or cheap meat loaf for their lunch and watery cordial drinks, depending on how much fund TCC’s kitty would have for that particular meal. TCC is only getting K400 monthly grant from WeCare! for its operating fund, and another K400 monthly support for the children’s four-times-a-week lunch meal from vessel-towing company Pacific Towing Ltd. Naturally, this total grant of K800 is not enough to keep TCC afloat and provide decent meals to the kids.

We are happy that when myself, Rishabh, Hayward and Penny have approached different potential donors, they have been sympathetic to the nutritional needs of the children, and they have supported us by funding our Saturday lunches..

The K150 -- the basic cost of the Saturday meal -- from individual sponsors is doing great things to the center’s wards.

I know that these donors would be pleased to learn from this blog that their donation is directly helping improve the nutrition of the 83 orphans and abandoned children.