Video: Can Home Delivery Fight Malnutrition In Indonesia?

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Indonesia has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world, with more than a third of all children under 5 suffering from inadequate nourishment. Even though the country is undergoing great leaps in economic growth and development, the rate of malnutrition isn’t improving. Why?

TIME video journalist Jacob Templin went to Central Java to find out. The reasons, according to the health workers he interviewed, are many. Yuni Susilowati, a volunteer who personally cooks and delivers meals to children in need, blamed the lack of nutritional education among mothers.

Others like Dr. Hamam Hadi, a professor of medicine at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the problem is an overall decline in volunteerism in Indonesian society. The fight against malnutrition in the country is still waged largely by volunteers like Susilowati, a do-gooder corps that has been dwindling since the days of former President Suharto.

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“I would say that from year to year, the good will of Indonesian people is decreasing,” Hadi said, adding that as the country grows increasingly capitalistic, fewer people are willing to work without pay.

Still, stalwart volunteers like Susilowati continue to make progress, at least in their own communities: in Susilowati’s village, there were 15 children with malnutrition in 2009. Templin reports that number has since dropped to five.

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“We live as part of society and we want to be helpful to others. We’re happy to see others happy,” Susilowati said. “That’s all.”

Meredith Melnick is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @MeredithCM. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.