KidsCan pilot to feed children under 5 a 'godsend'

Friday, 8 March 2019

Stuff visited a kindergarten in Kaitaia to speak to parents and teachers about how vital KidsCan helps is for the region.

Children as young as two are turning up to kindy without lunch - or having eaten at all. But a new KidsCan programme aims to change that. Matthew Rosenberg reports.

At the end of the long windy ride which weaves its way through the Maungataniwha Range in the Far North lies a small town where time seems to stand still.

Kaitaia is laid-back, eternally sun-kissed and expansive.

But under the relaxed veneer lies a difficult reality for many of its 5000 residents.

For starters, accommodation is an issue and healthy homes are hard to come by.

* KidsCan founder Julie Chapman says NZ kids are worse off than ever

* In poverty: We skip meals so our kids can eat

* Walking in the shoes of Kiwi kids in need is not that easy**

KidsCan is helping provide healthy lunches to children under five on weekdays.

Clare Harper-Lee, head teacher at Anne West Kindergarten, said there is a 'genuine need' for basics in the region.

She loves Kaitaia. It is 'rich in natural resources and cultural knowledge', but in her 12 years working in early childhood education she has seen one constant - an increase in the number of hungry tummies.

'There was one child this morning saying she hadn't had any breakfast,' Harper-Lee said.

'She was saying 'my ears are tired' because she couldn't concentrate. Her body wasn't in a good position to facilitate that.'

It's not uncommon for children as young as two to turn up to the kindy without lunch. And sometimes, parents who feel shame at not being able to send a packed lunch are too embarrassed to send them to the centres at all, and keep them home instead.

Mia Murray, 3, polishes off her rice risotto

On a good day at Anne West Kindergarten, 28 children can be seen tearing around the spacious playground outside - climbing on the jungle gym, launching on the rope swing and relaxing in the sandpit (where the volcanoes are constructed).

But on a bad day, numbers can drop to just 12, and food - or a lack of - is normally the main reason.

When children arrive with empty stomachs, Harper-Lee and her team are at the ready with Weetbix, yoghurt and toast.

They never send them away hungry, but at the back of their mind there's always a bigger question: Will the child be getting dinner tonight?

Joseph Dunmore digs into a meal the children have nicknamed 'dragon sauce'.

'They might not have anything else to eat [for the rest of the day],' Harper-Lee said.

'The struggle is real'

For three mothers whose children attend the kindergarten, the difficulties of providing for their families are all too palpable.

Juliet McLean is a single mother of two children who is studying full time while living on a student allowance of $355 a week.

Once her board of $200 a week goes out, plus another $60 for food, she says there's not much left over for her kids.

The grocery list changes from week to week depending on what's on special but bread, potatoes, carrots, luncheon, mince, pasta and milk take up most of the budget.

Butter and cheese are luxuries.

Kaitaia mothers, Lisa Tarau, Sera Latu and Juliet McLean say the struggle is real up north.

'It's pretty hard living on a student allowance, even if you don't have kids. I feel like I'm constantly just trying to keep my head above water,' McLean says.

While her children don't suffer on a material front, she says they know how stressed she is and the financial pressure takes a toll on her parenting.

One of her children attends Anne West, where she's recently been on placement as part of her Bachelor of Early Childhood Education.

Life is busy and money is tight as she enters her final semester, but she'd rather go without herself than see her kids suffer.

'The biggest thing for me is just making sure my kids are my priority.'

Sera Latu can relate. With five children still at home, getting by on just part time work and the benefit is difficult.

Her rent recently went up to $280 a week and she says money is always a worry.

Not only does she look after her own children, the neighbours' are often at her place too, sometimes as late as 8pm because she's 'making sure their emotional needs are met'.

'I live by very strict budgets but the struggle is definitely real.'

Eden Jakobs, 4, is one of 28 children who attends the kindergarten.

Another mother, Lisa Tarau says the problems they face are shared by many families in the Far North.

'I see such a lot of poverty here in Kaitaia. It's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just a part of life,' she says.

'Some of these kids go to school and you think, geez, have they had breakfast?'

A lifetime effect

Joseph Dunmore, age four, hangs off a ladder at Anne West Kindergarten in Kaitaia.

Nathan Willis is a child development expert who says going hungry in childhood can have lifetime effects on children - and the younger they are, the worse it is.

When a child is hungry, the 'survival brain' is engaged, Willis explains, which is bad news for the 'intelligent brain'.

The survival brain is another name for the brain stem, or the part of the brain that takes care of basic functions like breathing, swallowing, heart rate, blood pressure and sleeping.

The intelligent brain on the other hand is, in it's most basic sense, self-explanatory. It's where the learning takes place.

Because childhood is the time when much of the brain's development takes place, being hungry as a preschooler can have devastating effects.

Carter Thompson, 4, zooms across the playground on a swing.

'Kids obviously need emotional connection as well, that's what really drives the development of their brain, [but] food is fundamental,' Willis says.

'None of that is going to work if the child is hungry. None of us can do much if we're hungry.'

Matt O'Dowda is the principal of Kimi Ora Community School in Flaxmere, Hastings, and says food shame has played a massive role in the attendance of students at his school.

O'Dowda believes that in low-socio economic areas, such as the suburb his school services, developmental issues are rife.

Carter Thompson traverses the monkey bars under the watchful eye of two other children.

'We're getting five year olds coming in who have got the movement patterns of two and a half year olds. They're struggling to run and some can't cross the midline.'

Similar to Harper-Lee, he links the problem back to food.

'If you don't have kai, then you just won't turn up. There are loads of kids across New Zealand every day who wouldn't go to school because it's too embarrassing to go with no lunch.'

Since implementing a dollar lunch at Kimi Ora where sandwiches are made en masse, O'Dowda says he's seen a 'massive' improvement in both attendance and attention span.

'Nana Barb' volunteers at the kindergarten three times a week.

'We had lots of our kids turning up with a packet of biscuits or no lunch at all. It's made a massive difference in terms of the kids not feeling stink that they haven't got lunch. They can come to school knowing that they're going to be fed.'

Now, he wants to see similar initiatives starting for the younger age groups.

'If we can get rid of those barriers in early childhood education, that will be a huge step forward.'

Helping hands

Back at Anne West Kindergarten in Kaitaia, breaking down these barriers is exactly what's happening.

For the past two months, they've been included in a KidsCan pilot program which provides lunch and other basic necessities to the children from Monday to Friday.

Head teacher Clare Harper-Lee says Kaitaia is 'rich in natural resources and cultural knowledge'.

At the start of each week, Countdown delivers ingredients which cover the centres' meals for three days a week and Barb Pouharama, whose own grandchildren attend Anne West, takes to the kitchen to prepare the meals.

On the other days, Tuesday and Thursday, Subway provide sandwiches.

When Stuff visits Anne West on a sunny Friday afternoon, volunteer Nana Barb is on site preparing 'dragon sauce' - a rice risotto dish so popular with the children, they've given it a special name.

Twenty children tuck in at the table outside and all that's left over is two small jars of food.

It's good food that's good for the children but more importantly, it's removing barriers.

Children who would previously struggle to attend because of the embarrassment of not having lunch can be guaranteed a meal, the same as everyone else.

Raincoats and shoes have also been thrown in which have proven popular with the children and made sure the weather doesn't have the final say over attendance.

For mothers Juliet McLean, Sera Latu and Lisa Tarau it's been a 'godsend'.

'To know I don't have to worry about one lunch is one less worry and that money gets to go somewhere else,' says Latu.

For her, that looks like swimming lessons for two of her children thanks to the money KidsCan has freed up.

McLean and Tarau say the support gives their kids 'emotional stability' and 'replenishment'.

They also have a word for the skeptics who don't think education providers should be called upon to provide more than just education: you're right, in an ideal world.

'You're allowed to be a skeptic, that's fine. But the reality is, there are kids going to school without lunch and this program guarantees food,' Latu says.

'The struggle isn't real for everybody.'

Harper-Lee agrees, saying the worst-case scenario is to penalise a child for a parent's 'problem'.

And from what she's seen, the support is making a real difference in the lives of both the children and their families receiving the help.

'Why would you want to compromise the child's chance in life by saying it's the parent's problem? Actually, it's society's problem and it's the community's problem,' she says.

'Children are our future, but they're also our present and they're people now.'

KidsCan and Stuff have partnered up to raise enough money to feed and clothe 1000 more children under the age of five. To support a child, sign up at KidsCan.org.nz.