It is hard to believe how much and how dramatically the world has changed since we last met, ladies and gentlemen. In the blink of an eye, a virus that started on the other side of the world has become a deadly pandemic with tragic consequences also here in Zimbabwe. In a heartbeat, our lifestyles changed. Our schools closed. Our streets emptied. Our doors closed. And we went from business as usual to the fight of our lives.
Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, you are what you eat. The outbreak of the Coronavirus is first and foremost a public health emergency and we will stop at nothing to save lives. To do that, we are lucky to have and to be able to rely on the best, safe and sustainable health eating practices; ‘grow your own, cook your own and eat your own.’ It is true that the quality of food that you take in will do a great deal to determine the quality of life that goes on in your body. Yes, You Are What You Eat in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But as we have seen – both in Zimbabwe and elsewhere – the scale of the outbreak is stretching them to the breaking point. All the countries, urgently need the equipment, the right equipment, they need the right amount of it, and they need it right now.
But instead of that, what I see as crucial equipment, ladies and gentlemen, is to have your kitchen garden, to grow your own, cook your own, eat your own, since You Are What You Eat. And this is why we had to take matters into our own hands as far as we could to fight this COVID-19 pandemic. Food has a huge effect on our health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a diet rich in only one aspect would be an unhealthy diet, in the same way that a diet lacking in a certain nutrient would also affect our health.
Ladies and gentlemen, eating your grown organic foods and changing eating habits are solutions that help people improve their health to boost the immune system in the light of the COVID 19 pandemic. To grow your own, cook your own and eat your own foods helps people decrease some cancers, growth disorders, and heart problems. You Are What You Eat, therefore, growing your own garden can help your family eat better and lower the risks of disease.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, grow your own organic foods which grow naturally without using chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers and have more beneficial nutrients, which help people minimize the risks of health diseases.
Ladies and gentlemen, ‘Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be,’ with the growing your own, cooking your own and eating your own concept, the world is more than one eye can see. We hope to reach and achieve our DREAMS of self sustenance and to overcome malnutrition in Zimbabwe and world over. Now is the time to reactivate the general safe and sustainable clause in permaculture of growing your own, cook your own and eat your own foods to minimize the risks of health diseases such as COVID 19.
But what is unique about this fight, the COVID 19 fight, is that every single one of us has a role to play– growing your own, cook your own and eat your own- but only if we all do our share. This is why I am convinced that while we may be sitting further apart than usual, we must work closer together than ever before. We must look out for each other, we must pull each other through this. Remember, You Are What You Eat.
STAY SAFE. I thank you!!!!!!
Written by Ruvando Panashe (13) a grade 7 pupil at St Mary’s primary school in Shurugwi district.