In crisis-hit Sri Lanka, community kitchens are dishing out help to malnourished children
- More than 6.2 million people from Sri Lanka are estimated to be moderately acute food insecure
- As the food security situation deteriorated, private organisations conjured up ways to help
But over recent weeks, her son has slowly got heavier, like other malnourished kids at his preschool after receiving a full daily meal for free from a community kitchen for preschoolers.
Last month, year-on-year food inflation hit 95 per cent, meaning millions of families have had to forgo basics, while putting the onus on Sri Lanka’s civil society to fill the void left by the state.
More than 6.2 million people from Sri Lanka are estimated to be moderately acute food insecure, according to a September report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Food Programme, while tens of thousands are in immediate need of assistance.
For Dilrukshi, her son’s weight chart shows what the community kitchen which supports his preschool – Kids Dream World in Ampitiya, outside Kandy City – has achieved where the government has failed.
“My son was underweight from birth, but since he started receiving this meal, he has been steadily gaining about 300g per month,” Dilrukshi says, explaining meat and fish are now a luxury for her family.
