The Borlaug Blog

A pink dupattā (Indian shawl-like scarf) peeks out from the bottom right corner of the window pane. A young girl’s eyes curiously scan the dimly lit room where my mentor and I sit cross-legged on her family’s rug. Later, we leave the room with two of the biggest papayas I’ve ever seen and sore faces from laughing.

A group of girls my sister’s age giggle in unison, eyes shining and faces turning away with laughter, as I clumsily read out what my friend has just translated into Hindi for me: “I really like your jewelry!”.

A mother gently strokes her toddler’s matted hair with one hand while holding his torso steady with the other, as her eyes both earnestly and tiredly follow the dynamic gestures of the facilitator who’s chirping about the best sources of iron for mother and child alike.

Who are these people, you ask?

According to India’s National Family Health Survey, these girls and women are probably part of the staggering 57% of women aged 15–49 in India who have anemia. From another measure of what’s dubbed the “South Asian enigma” (a lot of South Asian countries’ stubbornly high rates of malnutrition despite economic growth), the women are likely two of 255 million people in South Asia who remain undernourished (ORF). In 2040, the girls’ children will likely be some of the nearly 600 million children globally who are projected to live in areas of extremely high water stress (UNICEF)...[CONTINUE READING]