Six years ago, at the request of friends living in Northern Kenya, we started an emergency lunch program for a pair of schools edging the Chalbi desert.

Northern Kenya has a severe and rugged beauty: volcanic rock alternating with vast swaths of sand and soil bleached the color of sun.

This part of the country is fully arid, an amplified version of the hunger and heat we’re familiar with at our schools in the south. In 2023, we expanded to five schools in Northern Kenya, with our hearts set on adding more.

 


 

A plaintive request

Whenever a school enters our lunch program, word trickles out to the surrounding communities. Within a few quick days or weeks, headteachers start sending letters of request to our program manager, Lucy.

One of the letters she received said, in part:

Hello, Madam Lucy. My school has a population of 287 learners whose families solely depend on livestock which perished in the long persistent drought and subsequent rainfall as well. There are cases of children fainting in classes due to hunger.

I am humbly and kindly requesting food support to assist these most vulnerable children. Most of them are on the verge of dropping out of school. Kindly have mercy on us.

 


 

Northern Kenya’s aridity means it cycles in and out of drought, with families living out at the edge of survival.

In December, January, and February, Kenya issued warnings of emerging drought in the north. While two days of rains at the end of March have helped ease the severity of the current dry spell, household food consumption remains at emergency levels.

 


 

One of the reasons we’re passionate about feeding children is that the hungry have always mattered to God. In Isaiah he says, “if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”

We’re excited that God has been stirring people to help us bring school lunches to more students in Northern Kenya. We’d love to have you join us as well.

 

 

Help us feed students in Northern Kenya

-Give a one-time gift or sign up for a recurring donation.

–Reach out to us about sponsoring a school or to chat about other ways to help.

 


 

Thank you for sharing our desire to see students thrive in Northern Kenya. We can’t wait to see what God will continue to do in their lives.