Rena Jangeesingh-Nunes is a mom on a mission.
The early childhood educator attached to The UWI School of Education’s Family Development and Children’s Research Centre has found a way to get picky preschoolers amped up about healthy eating.
And she wants to pilot her project among three- to five-year-olds across the Caribbean.
“I work with fussy eaters every day and I saw an opportunity to develop healthy eating habits in children from an early age using art as the medium of expression,” she said.
“I know that children love visual art, they love performance, they love poetry… and I decided why not do something like that to promote healthier lifestyles?”
From this was birthed the idea for The University of the West Indies’ School of Education Family Development and Children’s Research Centre’s (UWI-FDRC) “Caribbean Food Revolution Food and Art exhibition 2017”.
Held on May 10 at the Faculty of Education, the exhibition was spearheaded by Rena herself, marshalling a small army of hyperactive tots, enthusiastic staff members, proud parents and other collaborators.
The exhibition aimed to foster healthy lifestyles and eating habits from pre-school to adulthood by building bridges connecting different stakeholders who share a similar vision. Ultimately, the objectives are to:
- achieve greater awareness of eating healthy local foods
- create avenues for open communication and dialogue with professionals in the field of Health, Nutrition and Wellness
- develop local nutritious recipes
- help children & families make healthy choices
This dovetails nicely with the very mission of the UWI-FDCRC. The Centre has been a model for developmentally appropriate early childhood care and education (ECCE) both locally and regionally. It provides training for future early childhood professionals and frequently conducts workshops for parents and the wider ECCE community. The closely aligned UWI-FDC generates research with an aim of improving the life outcomes for children of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.
Its mission statement prioritizes the critical early childhood development needs of the Caribbean through a model teacher development unit, policy-oriented research and complementary early childhood services to families and their communities.
It promotes nation building via poverty eradication, exemplary parenting and curriculum reform and development in early childhood care and education.
Even so, the innovative Food & Art Exhibition idea was too big to be confined to the School of Education’s Family Development and Children’s Research Centre. Rena enlisted other schools to participate, recognizing that the initiative needed widespread support from a multiplicity of partners to succeed and continue thriving.
And there is no doubt the first-time Exhibition was a triumph given the crowds that thronged the School of Education. They were greeted by an innovative display of artwork, all created by preschoolers: 3D replicas of banana and other trees, an eggplant made from socks, a pumpkin patch made of plastercine moulding clay, and two-dimensional representations of the dasheen plant. Food inspired collages and poetry completed the artistic showcase of the works of seventy students.
The exhibition also featured the ‘Farm to Table’ Approach whereby healthy, tasty meals were created from local food crops grown by the pre-schoolers themselves.
Farm to Table is a social movement advocating for local, seasonal, fresh and organically-produced foods and has been promoted by both farmers and Chefs as a means to connect consumers to the source of the ingredients in their meals.
“At the Children’s Centre we grew food crops utilizing seedlings obtained from experts who visited us on World Food Day,” Jangeesingh-Nunes said. “We practice the farm to table approach – we grow the food, reap it and eat it. Then we go a step further – whatever we eat, we draw.”
Other attractions at the Exhibition included professionals in their fields conducting food demos; health screenings such as vision testing, Body Mass Index, blood pressure testing and dental examination; and booths offering samplings of healthy food products.
Thrilled that the pioneering initiative was both enthusiastically received and well attended, Jangeesingh-Nunes acknowledged the contribution of various supporters including the families of preschoolers enrolled at the Children’s Centre, members of staff, schools within the St. George East district, professionals in the Health field and the Department of Food & Agriculture.
Indeed the Food and Art Exhibition made such an impression there is already interest from external stakeholders to further develop the initiative, with one such potential partnership being with the University of the Southern Caribbean.
Acknowledging the diversity of indigenous plants and cuisine, Jangeesingh-Nunes said this combined with the Centre’s innovation-driven need to reach people offered an even broader vision for Healthy Lifestyle Promotion.
“We have so much to offer the world,” she said. “My vision is to start in Trinidad and Tobago and then expand to the different islands. The intention is to repeat the exhibition but not in the same way. It will grow and evolve.”
Sherry Ann Singh is a freelance writer. |
