project canaan, eSwatini
The IEF is proud to have worked alongside the charity Heart for Africa since 2015, directly supporting the charity’s Project Canaan, a sustainable farm and “whole of childhood” orphanage in Eswatini which also facilitates a nationwide intervention feeding programme.
In 2015, the IEF and its lead partner, Egg Farmers of Canada, built an egg farm from the ground up to provide a high-quality source of protein for the children in the orphanage and their carers.
Our involvement initially included provision of equipment and technology, and we now offer ongoing training and education, ensuring a sustainable and continual supply of eggs.
Intervention Feeding
In addition to helping the children who live there, the IEF supports Project Canaan with an egg distribution project, which enables nutritionally vulnerable children in rural communities to have unique access to high-quality protein.
Around 1.6 million eggs from Project Canaan were distributed throughout 2021, supporting close to 4,500 children every week through a network of 32 feeding stations at schools and churches. In 2021, Heart for Africa made significant investments to build storage and cooking facilities in 25 of these partner locations, meaning over half of the feeding stations are now able to provide meals 7 days a week.
Egg Processing and Extending Shelf Life
To enable successful distribution and ease of access to children who have limited cooking fuel and facilities, all of the eggs used in the IEF distribution project are boiled in their shell using equipment donated and installed by Sanovo Technology. The egg boiling equipment was individually designed for this specific application and is solar powered, easy to operate and has a long design life.In 2018 the Sanovo Group additionally provided chilling equipment for installation with their existing boiling machine. The 500 litre vessel has proven to be a great asset in the process for extending the shelf life of boiled eggs.
New technology can also support the advancement of processing and extension of egg shelf life. Further technology has been applied by our partner DMF and Dr Fabien De Meester, to extend the shelf life of boiled eggs from several days to several weeks. This is achieved by adding the correct recipe of organic compounds during the boiling process, which seals the internal membrane of the egg just inside the shell, increasing the shelf life to between 30 and 60 days at 30°C in local conditions.
