By Denis Okello, Communications Specialist, HarvestPlusNestled in lush, leafy Kole District in northern Uganda, St. Mary’s College in Aboke sub-county radiates tranquility and vitality. Students in their immaculate white and black or blue uniforms stride confidently about the well-kempt compound, chatting and smiling as they perform various chores—trimming the grass, doing laundry, mopping the classrooms. Vocal music saturates the balmy air, the harmonious sounds of a school choir at practice wafting from one of the classrooms. Outside, lofty eucalyptus trees sway gently in the wind, a verdant backdrop to this academic sanctuary for 300 adolescent girls. From Senior One to Senior Six, these fourteen- to nineteen-year-olds spend nine months here each year, nurturing their intellectual and life skills. It is the perfect environment for those pursuits.
Except for an understated monument to one side of the compound and a sturdy wall that encircles the campus, the school betrays no visible signs of the most traumatizing episode of its history. On that fateful October night in 1996, rebels of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) invaded the school and abducted 139 schoolgirls to use as fighters or “wives” of rebel commanders. Most of the girls were subsequently released following the entreaties of nun and Deputy Headmistress Sr. Rachele Fassera. But, of the 30 that were forced to stay with the LRA, five had been killed and two remained unaccounted for by the time the last of the group escaped captivity ten years later. The rebel invasion, the abductions, and the deaths of its students deeply scarred the school and left its future delicately poised.
“For a while, the school was uncertain about its future. It even considered closing,” reveals Sr. Susan Nganga, who is now the Headmistress. “Yet, most troubling was the thought that young girls in the poorest region of the country might lose one of the very few quality schools they could attend at subsidized or no fees at all.”
That realization convinced the school to remain open, even as it limped through the difficult times on a long journey to recover its reputation and status. Eighteen years on, St. Mary’s recovery appears to have finally come of age. Classrooms and dormitories are full again. Student numbers have swelled to where they were before the abductions. The large farmlands outside the school walls are teeming with crops and activity once more. And one crop, in particular, has become an unlikely ingredient in the school’s recovery: Vitamin A-rich orange sweet potato (OSP). First introduced to the school in 2012, OSP now boasts its own dedicated two-acre farm at St. Mary’s.
“We value self-sufficiency here,” explains Sr. Susan. “It means we can save money, which allows us to admit more girls, particularly those from poor families. Having a farm and growing our own food helps us be self-sufficient. And now with orange sweet potato, we have a crop that not only sustains but also nourishes our students. With healthier students, we can expect good grades.”
Yet, initially, the school was skeptical about the new crop’s chances of being accepted by students accustomed to white- or yellow-fleshed varieties, and it only agreed to try OSP on a limited basis. But, the World Vision extension staff who introduced the crop to the school were quietly confident that OSP would ultimately win the battle of hearts and minds.
“When I first saw the orange sweet potato in the refectory, I must admit I was a little hesitant,” recalls Flora Odwar, a Senior Six student who majors in Science. “I remember thinking to myself: What is this? Only after I saw other students eating it did I try it myself. And I liked it immediately because it tasted so good!”
There were similar reactions from most of Flora’s colleagues. A tentative initial encounter with OSP quickly gave way to an OSP craze once the students actually tasted it. Perhaps it was the softer texture and sweeter taste of OSP that appealed to them. Or, perhaps they found the new crop to be kinder on their tummies, much in the same way that younger children who ate OSP were found, in a recent study, to have been less likely to suffer from diarrhea or, if they were ill, experienced diarrhea for a shorter duration. What’s clear is that St. Mary’s is now an enthusiastic adopter of OSP, adding to the crop’s overall impressive adoption rates in the areas where it has been introduced by HarvestPlus—a global program to improve nutrition—and its partners including World Vision.
There's a bigger picture to OSP, however, and the students haven't lost sight of it. “Whatever we put inside us, we get to live it on the outside,” states Caroline Atoo—a pithy observation from a sixteen-year-old student that captures the essence and purpose of OSP. With its high concentration of beta-carotene—the substance that the body converts to vitamin A and is the reason for the crop’s orange color—OSP can provide the full daily vitamin A requirements of its consumers, particularly of children. With regular consumption, OSP has been shown to increase vitamin A intakes among Ugandan and Mozambican children. Which makes OSP, along with other nutrient-rich crops bred conventionally in a novel process called biofortification, a timely intervention in light of pervasive vitamin A deficiency (VAD). According to the World Health Organization, VAD is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children in developing countries such as Uganda. It also increases the risk of disease and death from severe infections.
If OSP is, therefore, necessary in a country where one in five young children and women are vitamin-A deficient, it is probably indispensable in a region only just recovering from two decades of violent and disruptive conflict; a region where, just a decade ago, 90 percent of the entire population lived in displacement camps and were heavily dependent on food aid. The relief food came fortified with some important micronutrients (including vitamin A), but they ceased to be distributed once the war ended and people returned to their homes to grow their own food. With local staple crop varieties low or lacking in micronutrients, and the majority of the people still too poor to afford nutrition supplements or fortified products, OSP represents a great opportunity to improve vitamin A intakes and nutritional status in the region. St. Mary’s students—and their parents—certainly recognize the value of the crop.
“My father was so happy when I went home during the holidays and told him we were eating OSP at school,” says Caroline. “He told me that vitamin A is very good for the eyes. I am thinking of asking the school to allow me to carry some vines home when we next break for holidays. My father would be delighted to be able to plant it in our garden.”
The school embarked on a campaign to educate the students about the nutritional benefits of OSP before and after it included it on the menu. But the growing popularity of OSP beyond St. Mary’s can be credited to World Vision, which is using radio, farmers’ groups and other outreach activities to get more farmers in northern Uganda to adopt the crop. With the school’s students and their parents enthusiastically embracing OSP, the organization is grateful that its task has been made a little easier.St. Mary’s College, like the fabled phoenix, has succeeded in rising from the ashes. HarvestPlus and World Vision are hopeful that the people of northern Uganda in general can similarly strengthen and consolidate their recovery from a troubled past and emerge stronger, more optimistic about the future, and healthier—aided, in part, by the rejuvenating effect of a certain nutritious crop.
Denis Okello is a Communications Specialist with HarvestPlus, a global program that develops and disseminates nutrient-rich food crops to reduce hidden hunger. He has previously worked for the UN’s humanitarian arm, and as a journalist in northern Uganda.