b'ByBOSCO KAGABA World Ark contributor Photographs by JACQUES NKINZINGABOBEHIND A MILK COLLECTION CENTER IN RURAL RWANDA, THE AROMA OF WARM FOOD FILLS THE AIR. Taking refuge in the buildings shade, local farmers are hard at work shucking corn, slicing tomatoes and peeling potatoes, all freshly harvested from surrounding fields. They lay a patterned carpet on the concrete floor and heap cooked food onto plastic plates for their soon-to-arrive guests: mothers and young children from nearby villages.This is the Abakundinka Community Kitchen, a space for mothers to bring their young kids for a wholesome meal. Once a month, they gather together out of the hot Rwandan sunshine, mothers to share stories and knowledge, and their children to enjoy a hearty plate of nutritious food.[The kitchen] is very important, said Alphonsina Uwikunze, a local mother who frequents the monthly event with her child. It helps the children in the community, especially those showing signs of malnutrition, to eat a balanced diet.Though the fruits and vegetables change with the seasonssometimes Irish potatoes, sometimes yams, beans or bananasthere is always meat to eat and milk to drink. Thats because the community kitchen was born out of the Abakundinka Livestock Farmer Field School, a dairy farmers group formed in 2018 by 27 men and women trained through the Rwanda Dairy Development Project. Jointly funded by Heifer, the Rwandan government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the project operates in 12 of the countrys districts and works to help 100,000 rural families increase their dairy production and improve their livelihoods through training on milk handling and hygiene, fodder cultivation, livestock nutrition and animal husbandry.HEIFER.ORG |11'