Healthy Living
Health is Wealth,†a saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson was whole-heartedly abided by the Gender Resource Centre team in Tilak Vihar last month. In an effort to instil a healthy lifestyle in the surrounding community, the dedicated GRC team regularly sets out on these social empowerment activities, holding
Health is Wealth,â€Â a saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson was whole-heartedly abided by the Gender Resource Centre team in Tilak Vihar last month. In an effort to instil a healthy lifestyle in the surrounding community, the dedicated GRC team regularly sets out on these social empowerment activities, holding nutrition camps, where our key nutritionist, Ms Veena Jain helps the people in the community to learn how to cook in an efficient and healthy way, conserving as much nutrition as they can in their meal. The first camp was held in the heart of the JJ colony in Kusht Aashram, Indra Colony in Tilak Vihar on a sunny afternoon on 14th May, 2010. The camp was graced by around 75 people and both men and women participated in the activities. The GRC mobilizers went door to door, requesting and persuading people to join them. At first the audience was reluctant to participate, but as the camp went on, a spark of interest lit up among the men and women present, and they started asking questions, showing their keen curiosity. The second camp was held in a cosy locality tucked in the heart of Tilak Vihar on 4th June, and was attended by 101 people, mostly women and children. Here, the camp’s activities were already well known to the people in the community, and they assembled eagerly to attend the second session. Yet again, Ms Jain captured the audience’s attention with her details about healthy cooking. The nutritional camp gave more useful information to the men and women as best as they could, in the simplest and easiest to remember form, as the large majority of the audience was illiterate and thus the information had to be given verbally. A woman, who was part of the audience, said, “At first I didn’t want to come, there’s so much work left at home. But I’m happy I came, I learned a lot about how to cook better and healthier.â€Â Most people at the camp had similar positive views about the camp. Sanchi Chandna, an intern at Deepalaya HRC, commented, “ The nutritional camp, to me, seemed very effective, as instead of staying in the office and holding the camp there, we went out to the grassroot level, right to people’s houses, to where they lived, to help them. It was nice to see that I was part of this positive contribution to society.â€Â The objective of the camps was, firstly, to impart education about healthy, hygienic cooking, and secondly, to give the audience recipes of easy meals such as bail ras, daliya, vegetable biryani and pudeena chutni, healthy, nutritional and easy recipes. Ms Jain also gave tips for healthier cooking to the audience, such as • Not to throw water used to soak rice or dal as this water has added nutritional value. • Cover the lid of cooking vessels as that uses heat more efficiently • Wash vegetables before cutting Ms Poonam,a member of the GRC, said, “There’s a lot of hard work and perseverance that goes into holding these camps, but in the end, the effort seems worth it, since we’re doing some good for the community.â€Â This encouraging attitude of the GRC team helped in making the camps a success. Send feedback to pooja@deepalaya.org
About the Author
Ravi Pahuja
Noida
Leave a Reply