Youth Exchange and Study (YES) alumni in Bauchi, Nigeria recently took notice of a local clinic that treats patients suffering from malnutrition. Although easily preventable, malnutrition is a common condition for many in northern Nigeria.

The YES Alumni worked together to acquire donated fruits for the Primary Health Center.

Muhsin Muhammad (YES 2009-2010, Nigeria, hosted by IRIS in Harcourt, IA) said it was his experience in the YES program that motivated him to be part of charitable projects such as this one.

“All through my exchange year, I have been surprised by the charitable nature of Americans,” Muhsin said. He continued to say, “I think of projects in terms of the impacts they will make, and my host mom helped me understand that a better impact is helping develop someone’s life, someone’s future.”

Alumni visited the Primary Health Center twice before the project began. They worked diligently to gain consent from everyone involved, all while doing research on how to best meet the needs of the patients.

Muhsin also sent a request for a professional to come and present a lecture about malnutrition to the patients. He was pleased when a state nutrition focal person, Hamza Yakubu Sade, volunteered to give the lecture.

The key points of the lecture included educating the patients on what malnutrition means, the causes behind malnutrition, and various preventions. Sade also discussed the importance of exclusive breastfeeding amongst mothers and maintaining a healthy diet made of locally grown fruits and other foods.

The alumni gathered enough fruit to be distributed amongst all 150 patients of the clinic. Nurses from the clinic thanked the alumni who helped with the project. The nurses described this act of generosity as something they’ve never seen done before.

Muhsin said alumni in Bauchi plan on doing similar projects soon with pregnant women at the same clinic, as well as patients at other clinics dealing with similar issues.