Child Care Best Practices : Tello Adopts Exclusive Breastfeeding, Enriched Diet

Unlike many communities in the country, most of the 5,000 inhabitants of Tello village, located 110 km from Ngaoundere, headquarters of Cameroon’s Middle Belt Adamawa Region, are fairly accustomed to taking proper care of their babies. “An increasing number of nursing mothers have adopted enriched or “five-star” pap as diet for their babies after six months of exclusive breastfeeding,” explained Tiessu Marie Claire. 
A Nursing Aid, Tiessu, who heads Tello Integrated Health Centre, received a group of journalists in her centre on September 6, 2019. Her assertion could not have been better illustrated than during the practicum of enriched pap preparation held in the health centre the same day. The event was massively attended by at least 40 men, some 35 women and not less than 40 children. Thanks largely to the mobilisation capacity – at short notice - of the devoted local town crier, Mohammadou Laminou.  
Prior to the pap preparation practicum, American Peace Corps Volunteer, Fanning Lin, did an interactive lesson on balanced diet entitled, “Suudu Nyamndu” or “The food house.” Using a picture chart with food items, the lesson presented the different classes of food.  “Good diet is like a house that is made up of different parts - the foundation, walls and roof,” Lin explained, speaking intermittently in French, Fulfulde, and at times using a Fulfulde interpreter.
According to her, the foundation represents carbohydrates...