Many hospitals in developing countries lack certain benefits that are common in developed countries such as clean water and healthy food. This is especially important in the treatment of youths with cancer, as patients undergoing chemotherapy have limited diets. Contaminated water can serve as a vector for infection. Food is often insufficiently nutritious; in some cases, the hospital may not have sufficient food for the patients, leaving them dependent on charitable contributions that still fail to cover their dietary needs.
The patients’ families also have few food options: the only places to purchase food are the hospital canteen, nearby vendors, and restaurants. Unfortunately, the prices are too high for poorer families. The scarcity of food at the hospitals often compounds preexisting malnutrition and can prove detrimental to cancer treatment.
of the children being treated for cancer received one meal or less per day while staying at University of Kigali Teaching Hospital (CHUK), while 65% of the caregivers only ate one meal or less a day.
of the caregivers felt their children already had an underlying malnutrition problem, while 67% of the caregivers felt that they themselves had an underlying malnutrition problem.
of the children received meat less than once a week; moreover, the meals were unbalanced and inadequate in meeting the nutritional needs of children
“A hungry child cannot heal” is our starting point. We supply nutritious food to promote healing in children with cancer and sustain their families in the hospital setting. Connecting a direct line from farmers who cultivate nutrient dense crops to the child’s bedside is our simple methodology. We source local foods and cook dishes that the child recognizes and loves.
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The hardware of our kitchen is based on state-of-the-art equipment and tools for the team of chefs and servers. From our training kitchens, and cafeterias to our main production kitchen we provide a safe, hygienic, and efficient laboratory for the dishes we create. The infrastructure of the kitchens is embedded in the hospital to insure maximum nutritive value to the food produced.
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We enlist an entire team of cooks and servers trained to create a supportive atmosphere based on well honed culinary and hospitality techniques, with a concentration on kindness and empathy. Culinary Service and Hospitality Service training is based on world class principles and standards in hygiene, employee relations, food safety, procurement, receiving, inventory control, preparation, and service of the food.
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Outreach to local farmers includes a community wide network of suppliers, growers, foragers, all adhering to the highest standards of food production as stewards of the land. Our program will work to insure the best practices are shared with the agricultural community; our partners in wellness in this endeavor. The hospital is conceived to be more than a shining beacon on a hill.
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Our ultimate goal is to perpetuate a high quality and self-sustaining system of cancer care. The empowerment of children through providing tools for education and for play is an example of one of our programs.s
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