Sandiso Phaliso
EVEN when she is ill, Anasia Roberts, 17, makes her way to Manenberg High school so that she can have at least one meal for the day.
Roberts lives with her unemployed mother in Manenberg and depends on the food provided at school.
A five-year study by the University of Cape Town’s African Food Security Unit Network has shown that up to 12 million South Africans go to bed hungry every night.
Yesterday was World Hunger Day and FoodBank South Africa reports that one in five children go to school hungry every day.
FoodBank SA and the Department of Basic Education dish up a breakfast of cereal and milk to 25 000 school children every schoolday in four provinces.
Roberts is one of the pupils who enjoy breakfast and lunch at Manenberg High every school day. The cereals and porridge have proven to be popular since the breakfast club was launched two years ago.
Principal Thurston Brown said that since they began offering children breakfast, they had noticed an improvement in their concentration levels.
He said pupils have become more punctual so that they can have breakfast.
“Breakfast is something many of us take for granted. Many people in this community have to battle to get something to eat.
“Before the programme started we had many learners who fainted or were unable to concentrate. Some stayed away from school,” said Brown.
Kate Hamilton, of FoodBank South Africa, said pupils struggle to study and exercise as they have no energy because they are hungry.
She said for pupils to do well in class they need to eat breakfast because the brain uses glucose to be able to function properly.
“We need more energy and that comes from food,” she said.
Nutritionist Megan Pentz-Kluyts confirmed the importance of breakfast.
“The learner who eats breakfast does better at school than the learner who has not had breakfast.
“The first meal of the day helps one concentrate better and skipping breakfast makes it difficult to go on with the day,” said Pentz-Kluyts.
By next year, the provincial Department of Education will have spent just more than R299.4 million on its feeding scheme.
More than 465 000 pupils, from 1 028 schools, get two meals every school day.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said the department had designed the menus to ensure that children receive adequate nutrition as they need it to learn and play. Menus are designed by dieticians to improve the general nutritional status of the children and consist of warm, cooked meals.
There are five different menus for each day of the week. The menus typically include rice, samp, soya mince, a protein, fruit, vegetables, bread, jam, peanut butter and cereals.
Roberts said the breakfast helped her concentrate in class and she gets to school earlier to have breakfast. She said without breakfast she is moody and takes her frustrations out on her teachers.
“To go through a day when I have not eaten breakfast is difficult. I am happy I am able to eat a meal before my classes start,” said Anasia.
“I have not been eating at home in the morning because there is no food. I come to school every day – even when I am sick – because I want the food,” she said.
Luize Dreyer, 14, lives with his grandmother and sometimes he goes to bed hungry. “My first meal is at the school and without it I don’t know how I would finish the day. I enjoy the meal,” he said.