Cup of uji keeps learners in school

Millions of children under five years suffer from acute malnutrition due to poor feeding habits arising from lack of enough nutritious food, says the 2018 Global Health Report. Africa is one of the two continents that bear the greatest share of all forms of malnutrition.

Francis Amonde, 27, did not know this when he started his Cup of Uji initiative. He was 21 years then, a student with no source of income.

At the time, he was in his second year at Mount Kenya University, where he was studying a diploma in journalism and mass communication.

“I had travelled home and decided to pass by Nyatwere Primary School in Kasipul, Homabay County, where my late mother taught,” he says.

The first sight that met him when he walked into the school was of several frail-looking pupils lying under the trees in the compound.

“It was during the lunch hour break when you will find most pupils either having lunch or playing.

When I mentioned this to one of the teachers, I was informed that most came from poor backgrounds and therefore didn’t go home during lunch hour because there was nothing to eat there,” he says, pointing out that no child can play, or learn for that matter, on an empty stomach.

The sight of those hungry children disturbed him so much, he felt that he needed to do something about it.

This is how the idea of providing these pupils with a daily cup of porridge came about.

The idea was good, yes, but he had no money to execute it. Francis does not come from a well-off family, as a matter of fact, his parents struggled to educate him, so there was no way he could approach his relatives for financial help.

He was determined to help though, and so he decided to work with what he had.

IT CALLS FOR SACRIFICE

“I moved out of the hostel I was living in, which cost Sh20,000 every term, and with three friends, got a house that cost Sh4,500 a month, rent that we divided amongst the three of us.”

With the money he saved every month in rent, he would buy several packets of maize flour, enough to provide 100 learners in pre-school with a daily cup of porridge.

“After a couple of months, I saw the need to expand the assistance I was giving, since there were many more hungry children at the school,” he explains.

He started by looking for volunteers to help him raise money for his project, taking advantage of social media to talk about his project.

“I managed to get four volunteers who were instrumental in getting people to contribute towards the project. With time, we started serving the pupils wimbi (millet) porridge, which is more nutritious.”

Every month, Francis manages to buy 1,200kgs of millet besides the flour donations he gets from well-wishers.

he flour is then distributed to the various schools they support. Presently, more than 1, 500 pupils benefit from the feeding program, which is under Hope Alive Campaign, a CBO that Francis registered in 2014. The program is active in Kasimba Primary School and Nyatwere Primary school in Kasipul, Homabay County, Balozi Academy and Fikisha Street Boys Centre in Kawangware, Nairobi County, and Beyond the Vision School in Tassia Slums in Embakasi, Nairobi County.

Keeping a cause of this magnitude running is costly, and Francis, a freelance social media manager, appreciated that he cannot do it by himself.

WORKS WITH VOLUNTEERS

“Our five volunteers, who handle various responsibilities, including running our online fundraising campaign, ‘10 bob movement’ have been instrumental to the longevity of this programme, which requires about Sh250,000 a month. My proudest moment was in 2014 when we raised Sh1million following an online campaign.”

He adds,

“When I started out, it was very tough because most of my supporters were fellow students with little or no income. Today, besides individual donations, we have two organisations that regularly support us - every month, Unga Group donates 200kgs of porridge flour, while Arimus Media gives us 100kgs. We couldn’t manage without them.”

His dream is to feed many more needy learners across the country, but of course, this is only possible with more funding.

“Raising money is our biggest challenge. Besides the assured flour we get from these two companies, we are never certain how much our campaign will raise, and yet we have committed to feeding these children,” he says, observing that getting people to commit their time to the project without pay is also a challenge.

“We need volunteers to not only fund-raise, but also to monitor the progress of the program and to prepare accountability reports.”

CHALLENGES

But fund-raising is not the only challenge they face, there is also that of dishonesty.

“There have been instances when a school we earmark for help inflates the amount of porridge flour and sugar required. When that happens, we withdraw our help, which is unfortunate,” he explains.

To ensure that the program runs effectively and benefits those that it is meant to, he often pays the benefiting schools impromptu visits.

When his family found out about his project, Francis explains that they could not understand why he was shelving his dream of becoming a journalist to focus on an initiative that gave him zero income.

“It took a long time for me to convince them that this was worthwhile, and to get them to support my vision.”

To ensure longevity of the programme, Francis aspires to start a kindergarten and a small restaurant.

“My dream is that one day, we will no longer have to rely on fundraising to keep the program running.”