The Nutriton Day, July 31 '08

Following was my Speech to the newly celebrated Nutrition Month, 2008.

Greetings for mothers, this year is the year for mother like us,
Assalamu alay kum
wa rahmatollahi wa barakatuh. I wonder why,
when proper nutrition is being
discussed, some eyes focused on us mothers.
We, being fully responsible for the
health of our children, survive blame and struggles.
We were blamed for having
improper nutrition at home with out asking why?
We struggle to have proper nutrition
and yet we failed because of financial reasons.
We always centered our attention on how to make
our family healthy, because we love
to compare who among us are effective in motherhood.
At very early stage of our
child in school, the very first thing that
we set for our financial estimates was to
buy an umbrella or a raincoat. We fear that
one reason for unconditional health is
fever and cold. So, we tried to secure one.
We regard ourselves to be the best
mother in the world, but when there is
circumstance for illness, we carried the
blame. No matter how we tried, we can never make
it perfect. The image of our child
became our trade mark. We missed another factor,
the proper nutrition. We mostly
concentrate on material things and we neglect
the proper nutrition. We know how to
do it, but we refuse to follow, it could have
for some factors that only family
income can justify. They tried to put all the
blame on us mother, and yet they
forget to verify.
Further more, we struggle far just to have
perfect environment at home. We consider
cleanliness to be one of the reasons why illness role.
We first consider the water,
the foods and then the shelter.
We like to be on top, but again, income is the king.
We dream to have the most delicious breakfast
in the morning but when we feel not
moving for the following week, we adjust
our meal for “bulad” and sayote as the
toppings. This is because, our wallet
complained every time we scan on fresh fish
crowned with 130-150 pesos a kilo.
I like malunggay and other nutritional vegetable,
but ampalaya and Talong are disastrous to our pocket…
they sometimes range from 60-80
a kilo. We rarely can afford and so we give up
planning for the proper nutrition. To
make thing simple, we favor to stock noodles
and eggs for simplicity and continuity.

What I mentioned to you, ladies and gentlemen
are the life in the city.  In the
rural areas, no doubt, it may not sound
perfect but proper nutrition is almost
followed. This is because, they are surrounded
by leaves that make their day
complete. But wait… to have proper nutrition
according to the books is to have fresh
fish, meat, milk, eggs and many more. Any way,
we have mongo as a substitute for
meat. We feel better this way.  So,
if we consider to fully follows on proper
nutrition, mother at a city could not squarely make it.
The income of a family will
prevail. We got to be strict on the number of
times that meals were being served,
rather than what should be the proper meals for the day.
Mostly, sustainability is
followed rather than planning for the day.
“ Sa wastong Nutrisyon ni Mommy, siguradong healthy si Baby”,
is a fact. All mommies
want to have a healthy baby, but if financial capacity decline,
we tried to imagine
what we give to our family is the best meal in the world.
We Filipinos lost the
real definition of proper nutrition because
of economic problem today. For mothers
like me, the theme for this year’s nutrition is
the best theme ever I remember, for
our children tried to appreciate the foods we
prepare for them, not for its delicacy
but for the effort that we have done.
We manage to prioritize our needs in a day in
which our center of emotion was to fill the day
and not the contentment. That is how
a poor mother can have for their love ones,
not to allow sun to set with out foods
in the table, regardless of delectability.
My advised for mothers in the rural areas
are to continue their practice in planting
varieties of vegetable in their backyard.
This could help and minimize rapid drops of coins.
The coins you save can compensate
other family needs, other than vegetable.
You must be lucky that you have healthy
surroundings. This can provide you a mountain
of foods with out spending an amount.
What I observe in this program now was that
the students that listen to me now
qualify to be among of the healthy children
in this country. I would like to
congratulate all mothers who are around today.
You can be the best mother in the
world. Do not envy other mothers who sat under
a mansion, for your home is the
mansion of happiness for you and your family.
The healthy surrounding that you have
is the most ideal one. You are far from worries,
rather an ideal family. You have
nothing to fear at night for the family is
complete away from hazard. Maintain the
effort that you have initiated for,
and Allah will bless you for being.
Students, fellow teachers, parents,
visitors and guest,  I appreciate it very much
that you have lend a minute of your time,
listening to some part of my diary as a
mother today, which I think could be yours
or even part of your mothers diary. I
thank you very much and Wassalamu alaykum
warahmatollah hi wa barakatuh.