Provide lunch for 500 school kids in Uganda

Just as there is a great deal happening in the world there is a lot going on at Mountains of Hope. But because this is a short session, I will try and keep my remarks short, taking the opportunity to share some key issues to support the food and nutrition security of those we serve.

We began 2015 with supporting the food and nutrition needs of the most vulnerable people in some of the toughest places in the District. Simultaneously, we are working with partners to achieve what we all agree is attainable, the goal of eliminating hunger and chronic malnutrition among under 5 and pupils in both Primary and Secondary schools.
It is very common to find children during class hours out on the road or in the fields despite the fact that there are many schools offering free education through government’s Universal Primary Education programme.

Through consultation with the Head teacher and pupils, leaders and the community of Mbute (Kampiringisa), we realized that very few children took a meal before they came to school. This meant that pupils left home hungry; they stayed at school hungry, since the school did not provide meals, and only ate in the evening when they went back home. Many families cannot afford to pack for children lunch which is a requirement for the UPE schools.

For this reason, Mountains of Hope Childrens Ministries for a short time has provided 300 kilograms of posho flour to enable pupils have porridge for lunch. Teachers will as well get breakfast and lunch at school which will help them concentrate on teaching because they are sure that they will get lunch at school and then the pupils will always be at school to be taught. We have aplan in place to introduce a Community School feeding programme in which schools take lead in producing food for children to eat while at school. Each class grows a different type of food and later the whole school feeds on the different types of food.

In this programme, the school produces different types of food including beans, maize,bananas and sweet potatoes. The school will provide local resources like land while the pupils provide the labour during co-curricular activities at 4 pm whereas Mountains of Hope provides capacity building.

Mbute Primary school will be a pilot school, once it works out, we will then scale up the programme to cover 20 other schools in Mpigi District.

Mountains of Hope has also provided 4 balls, 02 foot ball and 02 Net balls to enable pupils enjoy soccer, most of the children lose opportunity to join paying sports clubs when they grow up just because they did not have an opportunity to practice it while at school due to lack of balls.