Over the past two years 40 children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS were certain of a hot meal at lunch time but this may soon cease to be the case if Lifeline Counselling Services programme does not receive urgent funding.
Executive Director Carlotta Williams said Lifeline assists about 300 vulnerable children and from this number 40 were found to be in desperate need. It was on this premise that a proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Health which funded the Hot Meals programme jointly with the World Bank. The ministry/World Bank project ended four months ago, jeopardising this and Lifeline’s other programmes.
Williams told Stabroek News that Lifeline usually plans the menu to ensure that it is nutritious; arranges for the meals to be cooked and packaged and they are then taken to the children’s schools or homes when they are ill. Since the funding dried up Williams said Lifeline has approached a number of organisations for assistance but has so far only gotten a positive response from St Ann’s Orphanage. She said a proposal has been submitted to the ministry for funding but they are yet to receive a response.
Stabroek News understands that the ministry is seeking to have the programme continue under a Global Fund initiative but it is not clear when this will become a reality as a proposal has not yet been submitted. In response to a query about whether the organisation had approached the human services ministry for assistance, Williams said that the ministry provides support in other areas, particularly for the adults in the organisation. Many persons were given help to start small businesses and in other areas. However, no assistance was sought for the Hot Meals programme.
Williams said the programme has allowed many children to attend school since some parents were unable to provide a single meal each day for them. She said it costs about $7,000 per day to feed the children and she is hopeful that Lifeline won’t be forced to discontinue the programme.
