Nonprofit Photography: Red Hill Health & Nutrition Project
On Friday, Cape Town based photographer Anita Reed volunteered her time to photograph the health & nutrition project at a pre-school to help raise awareness for this cause. Our intern Anais Bechir joined her. – By Anais Bechir
After an hour’s drive from Cape Town, we arrived in Red Hill around 9.30 am. The Health & Nutrition Project will take place at this little township which was surrounded by beautiful landscapes. The contrast was quite remarkable; on the one hand, there are small shacks with tin roofs everywhere. On the other hand, there are stunning views of ocean and mountains, which seems to offer hope.
We were here for Anita Reed to photograph a health & nutrition project run by The Happy Africa Foundation. Based in Cape Town, this NGO works to enrich people’s lives through implementing improved health and nutrition infrastructures, building opportunities for better education, creating safe places for children to play and helping to generate sustainable sources of income for families.
Some of their projects run in the informal communities of Red Hill, on the outskirts of Cape Town, where they support Red Hill Preschool and Children of Hope preschool. At both preschools, the Happy Africa Foundation funds health and nutrition programs. They provide workshops with the teachers that prepare meals for the children to help teach about healthy eating habits. They also fund meals for 43 children at each school – a healthy snack and a healthy lunch. They measure the impact of this program by recording BMI’s of the children and tracking to ensure they are in a healthy range.
At the school, which costs of a few small shacks, we were welcomed by hugs from many happy and smiling kids. After introducing ourselves, we spent some time playing with the kids, singing songs, and reading stories. It was great to see how joyful the kids are, without having a lot. Then it was time for the healthy snacks that The Happy Africa Foundation provided; apples and oranges that day. It’s a great initiative that is much appreciated by the community.
