Keeping Schools Open and Students Fed

This post was originally shared as a Global Giving report.

The Taru region of Kenya is arid and has faced drought and famine for several years. Secondary students (the equivalent of high school in the U.S.) receive a meal from their school each day. In an area suffering from severe poverty, this is often the learners' only access to food.

Those life-saving meals came under great risk earlier this month. Right before national exams, which determine a student's educational future, many schools suffered from a food-shortage crisis. Unable to feed their students, the schools were at risk of closing for the year. Those that could stay open were attempting to educate students who were suffering from dibilitating hunger. Though the students were prepared to take their exams after years of hard work and sacrifice, they were experiencing fatigue, discomfort, difficulty concentrating, and other problems associated with inadeuqate nutrition.

Kenya Keys launched an ad hoc fundraiser known as the Hunger Relief Fund with the goal of raising $10,000 to purchase food for secondary schools in the Taru region. Donors immediately answered the emergency call to provide life-sustaining meals to all learners in the region, not just those in the Kenya Keys program. Kenya Keys staff in Taru worked closely with local principals to distribute the funds to the schools.

We are incredibly proud of the donor community that came together to address this crisis. Your generosity and compassion for hungry children fills our hearts with joy.