Botlhale School pioneers the School “RED Tuck Shop Campaign”….

This interactive and socially conscious school, Botlhale English Medium Primary, has impressed many by their passion and drive to spread awareness on healthy eating and exercise for a healthy heart. This was seen by their participation at the recent World Hypertension Day, coordinated by Heart Foundation Botswana, and hosted by River walk Pharmacy.

The team of youth and teachers went out with a determination to make people see the dangers of salt, in line with this year’s theme “Salt and High Blood Pressure: Two Silent Killers.”

They signed over 100 pledges and are looking forward to hosting the follow up event in two months.

The school headmistress, Mrs Kay Didimalang, has also shown her love and concern for her students, and took the mandate of Heart Foundation Botswana home to the School Tuck-shop. She noted that “through our involvement with the Heart Foundation Botswana, we have been inspired to change our School Tuck Shop completely, to carry healthy foods instead of the junk food that is the norm.” She also added that it is a challenge of huge proportion, as it is not just a matter of changing the stock, but persuading the students that it is a good step, and finding alternatives that are not only healthy, but are also cost effective for the students, and appealing to them."

The transformation has already begun, and Heart Foundation Botswana will support them in their search for a winning solution by releasing a School RED Tuck Shop Recipe Book by July 2009. This will begin with a competition to be launched in June 2009, inviting students, cooks and anyone else to come up with affordable, healthy items that will appeal to school children for their tuck shops. The best 25 will then be published and circulated to the schools.

Botlhale English Medium Primary School is pioneering the School “RED Tuck Shop Campaign” with Heart Foundation Botswana, and we hope that other schools will embrace their example and follow suit.

Heart Foundation Botswana will post “before” and “after” photos on this Website, so watch this space to participate. We are also going to report on how the schools are responding, and what the students have to say.

Lets do this Kids! Lets get Healthy at School.