School meals served to children facing famine in Turkana

We are now serving our nutritious meals in primary schools in Turkana, a region in northern Kenya.

The introduction of school meals is a lifeline for children in the area, which is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years after four failed rainy seasons and ultra low-yield harvests.

We have been feeding very young children at early childhood development and education centres (ECDEs) in Kenya since 2005. Working in close consultation with the Kenyan Ministry of Education and local communities, we have been able to expand to feed children in primary schools.

Amina Swedi, our country director for Mary’s Meals Kenya, says: “Right now, the global acute malnutrition rate is at 15%, but in Turkana it is much higher. When I see it [hunger] through the eyes of Turkana, it has given me a whole perspective about what hunger means. It’s not a matter of just missing one meal…it’s a matter of life and death.”

Food will be the catalyst to change the story for children in Turkana, a place where food insecurity and malnutrition rates among children are some of the highest in the world and hunger is “a matter of life and death”, intrinsically linked with conflict.

Amina continues: “The biggest impact [of the programme] is going to be happiness, the smiling! Children's faces, you’ll be able to see it. You will see hope on their faces once they start receiving this meal, and they see it's consistent. They have received this type of meal before, but it has not been consistent…we'll start seeing hope and smiles that are not fading away.”