In 2024, teachers at Gituamba Primary School approached us with a specific concern: children were arriving without breakfast, struggling to concentrate by mid-morning, and in some cases being withdrawn from school entirely by parents who could not guarantee a midday meal. We responded by launching a simple mid-morning porridge program, later extended to a full lunch three days a week.
This term, we extended the same model to a second, smaller primary school on the edge of Gituamba where the headteacher reported similar patterns, including a noticeable dip in afternoon attendance on days when no lunch was available at home.
The program is intentionally modest: fortified porridge each morning, and a lunch of githeri or beans and maize three days a week, prepared by two parent volunteers per school who are paid a small stipend funded through our general donations. We source maize and beans in bulk from a Kasarani wholesaler at a discounted community rate.
“Since the porridge program started, our class 4 attendance in the first lesson has gone from roughly 70 percent to almost full most mornings. Children who used to put their heads on the desk by 10am are now alert through the whole morning.”
— Class teacher at Gituamba Primary
Feeding two schools instead of one roughly doubles our monthly food costs, and we are actively fundraising to keep both programs running through the full school calendar rather than pausing during lean months. A one-time or recurring donation, however small, goes directly toward maize, beans, and cooking fuel.
Parents interested in volunteering as cooks, or donors interested in sponsoring a specific week of meals, can find details on our Get Involved page.
Your donation or volunteer hour goes directly into work like the story above — not overhead.
Get involved