P.E.I. groups purchase food for Kenyan students, but more help needed

Farmers Helping Farmers and the Souris Village Feast have stepped in to provide food to six drought-stricken schools in Kenya that are twinned with P.E.I. schools.

The organization provided $2,000 to purchase maize and beans for lunches for the more than 1,250 primary aged Kenyan school children.

Parents normally provide the maize and beans for the school lunch program, but these six schools are located in an area that did not receive rain during the last rainy season in October 2016, and consequently did not harvest any maize or beans.

The maize and beans the parents did provide has now run out and they have nothing to contribute to the students.

“When I visited the Nkando Primary School in June, they were only feeding maize in the lunch stew,” said Colleen Walton of Farmers Helping Farmers.

“It was intensely depressing as they had run out of beans June 1, and had only about three weeks of maize left.”

Jennifer Murogocho, the coordinator of Farmers Helping Farmers’ school programs, reported that the maize and beans were delivered to the schools this week.

She said one school had no beans left in their store, and “the children were very excited to receive the beans.”

The Kenyan school year runs with the calendar three terms.

The second term will end on Aug. 4, while the third term will begin Aug. 28 and run until Nov. 3.

The Souris Village Feast contributed the funds for this expenditure, and more funds will be provided for some of the third term when it begins.

The funds provided will purchase maize and beans for the balance of the second term, however Farmers Helping Farmers will not have enough funds for the entire two-month third term.

For more information on how to help, contact Colleen Walton at cwalton@upei.ca or at 902-566-0597. year with