This Isn’t Just Nutrition. It’s a Child Returning to School..!
On a bright sunny morning, Nayan set out on her routine mission distributing the freshly arrived handmade Mahua ladoos from Gondia. Today she planned to cover the farthest hamlet of Nimbulvasti, a place where the dusty lanes turned quiet long before the day ended.
She parked her scooty near the first beneficiary’s house and began her usual round house to house, knocking gently, handing over packets of the nutritious ladoos to the women. As always, the questions followed her like curious birds. “How much of the Mahua flower goes into one ladoo?” “Why does it feel slightly grainy?” Nayan answered each with the confidence she had built through countless discussions with the TREEI Foundation coordinators of the Nutrition For ALL project. Halfway through her route, one woman came up to her with a beaming smile, one of those smiles that carried something deeper than politeness. Before Nayan could even ask, the woman held her hand and said, “Thank you.”
A little stunned, Nayan asked gently, “For what?” The woman took a slow breath, as if gathering the weight of her story. She told Nayan about her 13-year-old son, who had been battling malaria. His appetite had vanished, medicines had drained him, and his hemoglobin had dropped to a frightening 6. The doctors had reached that painful point where they said, “Now only nutrition can help him.” One afternoon, when she brought home the Mahua ladoos given by the NFA ground team, her son had asked for one. She hesitated and she remembered clearly that these ladoos were meant for non-pregnant women without co-morbidities but she had no idea if it was to be given to a teenage boy. But then she looked at him weak, tired, unable to eat anything else and she gave it anyway.
And then she gave him one the next day. And the next. And slowly… something changed. Over the month, he began eating better. His energy returned in little sparks first walking without getting tired, then stepping out to meet his friends, then smiling again. And just that morning, he told his mother he wanted to return to school. “That’s why I came to thank you,” the woman said, her eyes glistening. “These ladoos helped my child beyond expectations.”
For a moment, Nayan just stood there surprised, moved, and proud all at once. Then, unable to hold in her excitement, she pulled out her phone and called the TREEI team immediately. Because this wasn’t just distribution. This was an impact quiet, powerful, and real!
