At this time of crisis, our country representative in Kenya tells us more about the impact of the feeding programme there. 

Becky Evans
Becky Evans
Country representative for Mary’s Meals Kenya

Back to all stories | Posted on 05/10/17 in Blog

In Turkana, northern Kenya, a third consecutive year of scarce rainfall is causing thirst and hunger, decimating livestock, destroying livelihoods and spreading disease. With the next rainy season predicted to fail, the situation is likely to deteriorate forcing many children and their families to flee their homes in a desperate search for food and water. As a consequence, we have seen increased numbers of children enrolled in our Eldoret programme.  

Recently I visited Kapsoya Primary School in Eldoret, where Mary’s Meals began feeding in November 2016. Prior to the feeding programme, the school had an enrolment of 551 children and within the first six months of school feeding this had risen to 607.  

Kapsoya Primary School is within a community of low income households. Many children are orphaned or were previously working on the streets instead of coming to school – 27% of the children enrolled in the school are refugees from South Sudan who have resettled in Eldoret.  Many of the children have passed through the refugee camp in Kakuma, in Turkana County before moving on with their families.  

Mrs Bett (pictured), the teacher in charge of the school feeding programme at Kapsoya, explains the impact the feeding programme has had on the school and surrounding community: “Before the feeding programme, children would skip classes to go and sell things to supplement their parents’ income.    

“They never cared about education since they could not concentrate in class because of hunger. Now they have the opportunity to get a meal, which makes them stay in school, hence it has boosted our school’s overall academic performance.”  

Times remain challenging for the communities here but it’s fantastic to see children, teachers and parents coming together in support of Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme.