MANA

There are about a billion hungry people in the world. And every year, five million children die from hunger and malnutrition. That’s one child every six seconds. Yet we have the ability to significantly impact this worldwide humanitarian crisis. That’s where the MANA story begins.

Several years ago in Africa, a fortified peanut butter product was developed that significantly reduces the number of deaths resulting from severe acute malnutrition, a condition affecting twenty million children and resulting in one to two million preventable deaths each year. Known as RUTF (ready-to-use therapeutic food), this product can be manufactured in-country and distributed through existing health delivery systems. In 2007, RUTF was endorsed as the standard of treatment worldwide for severe acute malnutrition by UNICEF, WHO, WFP, and the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition.

MANA is a response to the scourge of malnutrition. We’re jumping right into the middle of intense suffering as a mother holds her dying child in her arms. We’re offering her hope in a product that has been proven time and again to have a dramatic positive impact on the health of children just like hers. But we’re not stopping there.

MANA is a response to root cause of malnutrition: Poverty. We’re establishing local manufacturing facilities in developing countries, employing local people, and using as many local ingredients as possible. We’re intent on creating sustainable businesses that will help grow healthy families and communities.

To do these things, we’re building effective partnerships with other great people and organizations. We know from experience that long-term development requires a deep desire to learn, mutual respect, shared responsibility, humble patience, and an overwhelming amount of grace. We envision great things with partners who share this understanding.

We plan to open a MANA production facility in Rwanda by the end of 2009 to serve 20,000 children annually. We also plan to begin production in the United States in 2009. The US facility is designed to provide MANA in cases of natural disaster, humanitarian crisis, war-affected areas, and other emergency situations around the world.

We would love for you to join the MANA movement! Here are a few ways you can get involved today:

Share what you have. It takes about 33 pounds of MANA over six weeks to treat a child with severe acute malnutrition. That’s about $60. Perhaps you’d like to organize a fundraiser in your neighborhood, at your workplace or school, or at your place of worship to engage more people in the movement.
Spread the word. Tell your friends about MANA on Facebook, Twitter, and every other means possible. We’ll be up and running in those places soon.
Stay in touch. Join the MANAmail list and we’ll let you know how MANA is making an immediate and sustainable difference in the lives of children and their communities. Email us mana@kibogroup.org to be added to the list.

For more information on MANA, please contact:

Mark Moore mark@kibogroup.org
Bret Raymond bret@kibogroup.org

To donate to MANA, please make your check payable to:

Kibo Group Int’l
Attn: MANA
604 S. Redwood Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74012

Or donate safely and securely online.