Teachers Learn about Yellow Varieties and Nutrition

by Amy Levendusky

An exciting workshop on the Yellow Varieties of Pohnpei local foods and other nutrition topics was held on January 19, 2006, at Condon Hall, sponsored by the Island Food Community of Pohnpei (IFCP) and Pohnpei Department of Education (DOE). Twenty-six elementary school teachers from 21 schools took part, with Kun Isaac, DOE Health Specialist, assisting in organizing and facilitating the workshop.

The main goal of the workshop was to explain and spread the "Yellow Varieties" Message: Grow and eat yellow varieties to help protect against vitamin A deficiency, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and anemia. This message was communicated to the teachers through brief lectures given by guest speakers, including Adelino Lorens of Pohnpei Agriculture, Yumiko Paul from Public Health and Welsy Hagilmai from the College of Micronesia-FSM Land Grant.

Educational materials, developed by IFCP, on the yellow varieties message including the Vitamin A Cards, the Pohnpei Bananas Book and the Pohnpei Banana Poster were distributed to the teachers. The video "Going Yellow" was shown and a study guide for the video was developed and distributed to reinforce the relationship between eating yellow local foods and health benefits. This video is the result of collaboration between IFCP, Micronesian Seminar, and the humanitarian agency Sight and Life, based in Switzerland and is now being shown regularly on Channel 6 of the local television.

Through the distribution of these educational materials, teachers will be able to relay the message on yellow varieties back to their students. Then it is hoped that from the students, this message will reach the parents.

During the workshop teachers were also given a pre-test to take individually. The pre-test questions were on nutrition-related topics including vitamin A deficiency, anemia (weak blood), diabetes, diet, hygiene, and basic good nutrition. In the afternoon, participants were split into groups to discuss and present the answers of the pre-test. The pre-test was developed as a tool for teachers to take back to the classroom.

A local food lunch of different dishes of giant swamp taro, breadfruit, banana, and fish was served, with coconuts and water for the refreshments.

The workshop was concluded with a brainstorming session on nutrition problems in the schools and recommendations on how to solve those problems. Teachers expressed concern about the poor diets of students, eating unbalanced meals at school, and the amount of junk food such as ramen, kool-aid, chips, candy, doughnuts, and soft drinks that students consume on a daily basis. The teachers recommended that more health training be provided for families, communities, and church leaders. The teachers also pointed out that local food production should be increased.