Seven hundred students were already in line awaiting their porridge when we arrived this morning. We had stopped by unannounced so we could monitor how the program is really doing and whether the porridge is being distributed fairly. The head teachers were at the front of the line overseeing the parents who had volunteered to cook and pass out the porridge. A different group of parents is assigned to cook the porridge each day, eliminating the need to pay for a cook.
To the right of the parents, and visible above the kids in line was a mountain of firewood the students had brought from home. It was great that everyone had chipped in to make the feeding program possible. It really shows what a need there was for one.
“Oh the children are so happy. They are so thankful. You can see it on their faces. Some even keep their uji (porridge) in a bottle and save it for lunch. They say their mothers tell them to save it because they have nothing to carry” said the deputy head teacher.
I looked around and sure enough, a few of the students had plastic bottle sticking out of their uniform pockets. This porridge may be the only meal of the day for some of these children.
To the right of the parents, and visible above the kids in line was a mountain of firewood the students had brought from home. It was great that everyone had chipped in to make the feeding program possible. It really shows what a need there was for one.
“Oh the children are so happy. They are so thankful. You can see it on their faces. Some even keep their uji (porridge) in a bottle and save it for lunch. They say their mothers tell them to save it because they have nothing to carry” said the deputy head teacher.
I looked around and sure enough, a few of the students had plastic bottle sticking out of their uniform pockets. This porridge may be the only meal of the day for some of these children.
Dorcas and I wandered over to the borehole to check in on the repairs which had been made a couple of weeks ago. One boy approached me gently holding his tattered treasure, a one dollar bill. I have to admit, I was really excited to see it. He asked me what it was worth.
“One hundred shillings” I told him. He seemed to be happy with that answer and asked for a photo with his dollar bill.
We went to wait for the head teacher by the car. A group of kids swarmed around me, all wanting to be in a picture. Dorcas asked one of the girls something in Kiswahili.
“Look, she has put carrots in her porridge” she said chuckling.
The girl looked a little embarrassed and, covering her cup, ducked behind another girl.
“One hundred shillings” I told him. He seemed to be happy with that answer and asked for a photo with his dollar bill.
We went to wait for the head teacher by the car. A group of kids swarmed around me, all wanting to be in a picture. Dorcas asked one of the girls something in Kiswahili.
“Look, she has put carrots in her porridge” she said chuckling.
The girl looked a little embarrassed and, covering her cup, ducked behind another girl.