#HealthyKids Are Happy Kids
It is not enough to be compassionate you must act on it.
Many of us will think ourselves to be compassionate human beings but we never are able to take time out from our daily schedules to actually do something about helping those around us. That’s why when a brand gives you an opportunity to make a difference and connect, you feel overwhelmed.
India suffers from a unique ‘double burden of malnutrition,’ that is, it has largely undernourished populations and at the same time a growing number of overweight and obese people. Childhood obesity is reaching alarming proportions in India; the prevalence rate reached 22% in children and adolescents aged between 5-19 years, over the last 5 years. It’s not something we can turn our backs to and while we may be slightly more conscious/educated while raising our kids, imagine the many who grow up in chawls, slums where securing the daily bread is a challenge. Do they even differentiate between eating healthy and just filling their stomachs?
Recently we had an interesting day with Nestle India where we were shown a small presentation in Nestle India office about their #HealthyKids campaign which they have been running since 2010 and since 2014 they have associated with Magic Bus to penetrate deeper into the underprivileged communities.
The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme has been developed with a focus to educate kids between the age of 10-14 on healthy food and lifestyle habits. This makes a lot of sense as the habits that are formed at this age will last life long. The kids are taught good nutritional practices, cooking methods to enhance the nutritional content of foods and physical fitness and this is all done through sports.
We (the blogger team and Nestle India employees) then set off to a local community in Mankhurd where kids had already gathered and were waiting for us in a municipal park. A magic bus coach was already playing there with the kids. After a quick ice breaker round, we got divided into teams and played a few games with them. My team was called ‘smart tigers’ and it was great fun to just team up with these kids and get involved in games.
An hour just flew after which the kids gathered around and the Magic bus representative and some Nestle India employees explained to the kids on why healthy hygienic habits were good for them and why nutrition is important as a building block in their growth. Each game we had played had a hidden association to learning about hygiene practices and nutrition. SFD or sports for development as its called is a fun way of educating kids and Nestle and Magic Bus have adapted this unique way of engraving these values into the gullible minds of the kids. I left the venue with cheers and smiles and loads of selfies with these wonderful young guns :).
May this be my kickstart to making a small dent in lives of those around me. Thank you Nestle, for warming my heart and raising my hopes a little more for a better world filled with happy #healthykids :)!!
