For 11-year-old Pauline Meal, eating fresh fruits and vegetables is somewhat of a luxury.
The Yipirinya School 6th grader said his family only “sometimes” buys fresh produce because it is too expensive.
“It’s a big family, that’s why,” he said.
Pauline is among a number of students learning about nutrition and growing fruit and vegetables as part of a program to increase access to affordable, fresh produce in Aboriginal communities.
Teacher Oliver Tuau said many families at the school could not afford fresh produce.
“If you go to the supermarkets, families want to buy all these vegetables, but it can actually be quite a big expense,” he said.
“But once students get an idea of how easy it is to grow their own vegetables, flowers and other things, they get a little more excited and we get a little more involved.”
An edible solution
The EON Foundation builds edible gardens in remote Aboriginal schools and communities and uses them to teach health and nutrition to reduce preventable and chronic diseases.
The Foundation was established in 2005 in response to the Telethon Child Health Research Institute’s research into Aboriginal Child Health in Western Australia.
It has been running the program in the High End of the Northern Territory for a number of years, but this is the first time the program has been offered in the Southern Territory, at Yipirinya School and the community of Ampilatwatja, about 300 kilometers north-east of Alice Springs.
Cardiovascular disease is the biggest cause of death among Indigenous Australians, accounting for 30 per cent of all deaths, while Northern Territory operations manager Donna Donzow said central Australia had the highest rates of diabetes in the world.
“Ampilatwatja, this is a community of 500 people and more than 50 percent are diabetics,” he said.
“Yipirinya School serves 17 township camps around Alice Springs, and even though they live in Alice Springs, they still face the same problems of food insecurity, diabetes, heart disease, middle ear infections – all of which stem from malnutrition.”
Food is too expensive and not fresh
Ms Donzow said products in remote community stores were often of poor quality as delivery could take up to two weeks.
“Nutritional content [fruit and vegetables] low. “The cost of this is high,” he said.
“If you have people living in your home, and the average Aboriginal home has 10 to 20 people living in it, the cost of feeding everyone goes through the roof.
“So we eat a high-carb diet because processed foods are much cheaper than fresh produce.”
A four-pack of kiwifruit costs $5.70 in Ampilatwatja, while major supermarkets sell the same quantity online for $4 or less.
A casserole package containing brown onions, two potatoes, a quarter of broccoli and a pumpkin costs $8.80 at Ampilatwatja, while a similar product can be purchased online for less than $5.
Typically fresh produce is cheaper in Alice Springs than in remote communities, but is still often more expensive than in metropolitan areas.
For Yipirinya 6th grader Norman Wilson, this means his family doesn’t usually buy fruit and vegetables.
“We won’t eat it [vegetables] “If we’re not in school… we just eat meat,” he said.
“If you’re at home and you’re not eating vegetables, you’re not healthy.”
Money needed to expand program
Mr Tuau said the nutrition program needed to be expanded.
“It would have real value if it were around remote communities in Australia,” he said.
Ms Donzow said 40 schools in the Northern Territory and Western Australia were currently on the waiting list for the programme.
He said the foundation would love to expand the program, but the cost is about $150,000 a year.
“We are desperately trying to fundraise and raise money to continue the program,” he said.
Twelve-year-old Nigella Scrutton also sees the long-term benefits of students learning how to grow their own food.
“Them [families] “They won’t need to buy any more vegetables because they’ll grow them in their backyard.”