Feed 300 poor children in urban Mombasa

The aim of the Mustard Seed Project (MSP) has always been to provide good quality education for poor children in Mombasa. We recognised from the beginning that hungry children are likely to be less healthy and less likely to take advantage of that education, so we have always had a feeding programme for the children at our school, Miche Bora. We continue to provide basic food for 29 of our poorest families during school holidays as well as morning porridge and a balanced midday meal for all pupils. Parents who can afford to pay a small amount towards the cost do so but increasing numbers cannot. After prolonged drought and therefore rampant inflation, exacerbated by war in Ukraine and other factors, Kenya now has flooding which again will impact on food inflation. The cost to MSP of our feeding programme is almost as high as running costs for the school and there is no sign of inflation stabilising at the moment. However, with the help of our donors, our school has had great success so far. Our external exam results are excellent again this year and having a healthy diet is a contributing factor. The thanks we give to you, our donors, are not just from the UK Trustees but from the children, parents and the staff of Miche Bora school. 

The following is a story of one of our children, Colvice, who had been through our school and left at the age of 14 last November (the school year begins in January and our children are 3 to 14 years). He had of course benefitted from our feeding programme. He was born "out of wedlock". His mother later married but has recently died. His stepfather did not want him so he was sent to relatives in Nairobi. There he was treated virtually as a slave. He managed to borrow a phone to contact his mother's sister in Mombasa but they could not afford the £15 coach fare from Nairobi to Mombasa. We were asked if we could help so MSP provided the coach fare. He is now living with his aunt and MSP has found funding through a sponsor for his secondary education. He and his aunt came into school to say thank you to MSP while Rita, our Founding Trustee, was there in February/March this year. She said it was a very moving experience. £15 has changed his life and his prospects for the future.

Rita will be going out to Kenya for another month in September, this time with one of our UK Trustees who has not visited before. There is always lots of work to be done and I know they will be working very hard. We are so grateful to everyone who has helped MSP to help children like Colvice. Every penny matters so please continue to give your support, or join us as a new donor. You make a real difference.to the lives of our children and their families at our school. .

Firstly, thank you to the donors of the Mustard Seed Project (MSP). Food inflation continues to be very high in Kenya and for some of the families we support starvation would be very close without our intervention. Because our school has a feeding programme for all the children they keep healthy and are ready to learn, but life is still a struggle for many families. During school holidays the very poorest are provided with the basic maize meal and beans but the number in need has increased a lot and continues to do so. Additionally now, our Headteacher has told us of people in the community who have had children in the school who have now moved on to secondary education. One of these is a lovely lady called Siti. Siti is a single parent who not only had children of her own but took in a child with cerebral palsy as there was no-one else to care for her. The child, Halima, now has a sponsor through MSP and is doing well at a special school. Siti's gratitude for the help we have been able to provide is heartbreaking. I met her in 2022 on my visit to Kenya. Siti was given the job of going to the market to buy fresh produce for the school cooks, a job they would have to do otherwise. She was delighted to be asked to do it. Now Siti is ill. Our Headteacher had ensured that she received enough food to keep starvation at bay but was concerned that Siti was no longer part of a family with a child in the school, the criteria for such help. MSP could do no other than support Siti who has been such a supporter of our Project for many years. Then there is Esther who took in  her grandchildren when their mother died of Aids. Both Siti and Esther are well known to us and are proud women who only ever ask for help in desperation.So we now have a small number of people in our community, where children have moved on to further education, whom we also support. It is a community which values what we have to offer, particularly education, but also food help. Our feeding programme costs almost as much to run as it costs to run the school, but without healthy children our school may not have achieved such success. For a number of children the food they have in school is their only food for the day. It includes porridge on arrival and a well-balanced lunchtime meal. I saw no food waste while I was there, apart from the container of banana skins which the goats were enjoying!

We need your support for our feeding project more than ever. Please continue to support us or join us. We at MSP are grateful to each of you for what we have been able to achieve because of you, healthy children ready to take advantage of an education that can give them a better future.