The challenge of a healthy diet in a poor neighbourhood

Volunteering for a small NGO that is 100 % dependent on donations poses many challenges, not just for our work but also for our daily lives. One of the biggest impacts for me on my daily life are related to food. I have never been the healthiest eater but my diet was still quite balanced, with loads of fruit and vegetables. Here at my NGO we mostly eat whatever gets donated (and sometimes if there is money we would buy a bit of fresh fruits or vegetables) – and that is mainly tinned food and groceries with a long shelf life (e.g. dried pasta, lentils, etc.) and bread (which gets donated by a local bakery). This means that our diet is very heavy on carbohydrates and quite repetitive.

There is also a very big focus on preparing meals that are filling and less on the nutritional value of them. This is because the meal needs to keep you going until the next one (dinner or breakfast), and a dish loaded with carbohydrates will probably do a better job on this than fried vegetables on their own for example.

Also, there is a focus on drinking mate (something like a tea and pretty much the national drink of Argentina). Poor people do not just drink it because they really like it but also because it has some nutrients - and it fills your tummy so you are less hungry. The importance lies on getting rid of the sensation of hunger.

Many times the dishes that get prepared are quite creative as well. If there is some pasta with tomato sauce left over one day, the next day there will be a stew with pasta and a sauce in which anything that goes with it is used. Little goes to waste here.

I started taking vitamin pills to counteract some of the issues but after nine months I can feel the impact of my diet more and more – mainly in the fact that I am quite tired most of the time. Of course I could just go to the next supermarket and buy fresh fruits and vegetables every day but I can just not get myself to doing that. Why? Because I am sharing a kitchen with my boss and his family (who live mainly on donations) and I would feel really bad if I were to eat fruits and vegetables while they are eating plain rice with some meat for example. And I could not afford to buy fruits and vegetables for a family of four every day. So I adapt and take advantage of the times when I am out of the house (e.g. on weekends) to buy and eat whatever I feel like (which turn out to be quite healthy and vegetarian dishes).