Kenya
Mary’s Meals has been working in Kenya since 2005. We provide meals to over 18,000 children attending schools in Njenga, Nairobi, in West Kenya, and in Turkana.
Horn of Africa Famine – Our emergency response
On 20 July the UN declared a famine in parts of the Horn of Africa. Widespread drought has led to severe food insecurity across the whole region. Our projects in Turkana, northern Kenya, are in the affected area. These people rely on their livestock for wealth and food – up to 70% of livestock in the region has died.
Our partners in northern Kenya, The Diocese of Lodwar, are having to work even harder to sustain these children. Fluctuations in the market can mean they have to drive 500km to buy food for the projects. They estimate that of all the rock dams, the Turkana people’s biggest source of water, 70% are dry. 35% percent of nursery age children in the Diocese of Lodwar are now malnourished.
What we are doing:
Recently, for six weeks, we took on an extra 6,000 children who would otherwise have missed out on school feeding due to school holidays. This required us to hire another 60 cooks and to by more food, thus boosting the local economy even further.
Njenga School Feeding
Kenya’s slums are among the worst in the world, and Mary’s Meals is assisting children in the densely populated Mukuru slums of Nairobi. The highly motivated teachers and volunteers who run the program are dedicated to ensuring that children’s right to education and adequate food is fulfilled. At Kwa Njenga Mary’s Meals is helping to attract children to school and to keep them coming every day making this school one of the best performing in Nairobi, despite its dire setting.
Mary’s Meals Kenya Photo Gallery
Kiango, Enchoro & Riyabu School Feeding
Mary’s Meals is providing meals to children attending schools in the Kisii region in west Kenya. It is the only meal during the day for many of these children. The schools are in areas that are very poor and rely on subsistence farming. Children suffer from malnutrition and poor health so school feeding is a great help to them in their quest for an education.
Kaikor and Lodwar School Feeding
Turkana is a vast, arid region and home to pastoralist peoples whose way of life revolves around finding their livestock food and water. This is proving increasingly difficult as the climate becomes more inhospitable and drought more frequent. More and more Turkana people are drifiting south to settle around towns like Lodwar. Mary’s Meals is providing meals for children attending nursery centres. The hope is that this early introduction to education will encourage them to continue with school and that the people here will be better equipped to cope with the changes to their traditional way of life.
