Feed 300 poor children in urban Mombasa

The Mustard Seed project (MSP) has once again been able to provide the children of Miche Bora Nursery and Primary School with morning porridge and a well balanced midday meal for another year, because of the kindness and generosity of our donors, but the situation in Kenya has deteriorated substantially. Inflation is extremely high, driven by severe drought and by the war in Ukraine. We know our families are poor and sometimes need extra help to feed their children, particularly during the school holidays. UK trustees visited for th first time since the pandemic during the Autumn of 2022 and our founding trustee, Rita, said she had never seen such need as there is now. For many years she has spent two seperate months in Kenya with her husband Geoff. I was in Kenya with her for the last two weeks of her month long visit in November. We heard from Harry, a retired and much respected Elder and great friend of Rita's husband and of MSP, of villages where all the animals had died and people were starving. We heard of two suicides of relatives connected to staff at our school who had found life so impossibly difficult and hopeless that they had given up. We have increased salaries for all our staff who were struggling themselves to meet increased costs. Our food bill has risen by 40% and is still rising. The mother of one of our families was on the verge of starvation herself trying to feed her children and had no milk to feed her baby. Luckily MSP found out and was able to step in and provide basic meal and beans and short term financial help. We were already giving her food support during school holidays.

Please continue to support us. Your donation can make a huge difference to someone's life.. We know we cannot change the world but we can make a difference in a small part of it. Our children may be poor but they are healthy and learning well because of our feeding programme. I spent a little time with our hardworking cooks and saw the children at lunch too. I was impressed by the meals I saw and with the meals for the few children with special dietary meals. I learned that Siti, a very poor mother who has taken responsibility for a child with very special needs, not her own, had been asked if she would like the job of buying fresh produce from the market, a job which the cooks had had to share previously. Rita said that her gratitude for this chance to earn a small amount of money was close to heartbreaking. (MSP had previously found a sponsor for the child with special needs). I met Siti - what a wonderful woman to have so little but give everything she can.

You have made a difference. More than ever we need your support to feed our families in this time of ever rising food prices. Please help us keep our children healthy.

Our feeding programme, breakfast porridge and a balanced midday meal, for the 300+ children in our school continues only through the generousity of our donors and supporters. We are very fortunate that our children  are far healthier and so are ready to learn than they would be without the help the Mustard Seed Project (MSP) provides through your kindness. This year the war in Ukraine has affected not only Europe but other countries around the world, including Kenya. Inflation there is very high  and we expect to see our costs for feeding increase by at least 40% for next year. The situation there has been exacerbated this year by a drought.. At the moment we support 29 families with basic food, beans and maize meal, during school holidays but we expect the numbers to rise sharply. These 29 families would be close to starvation without us and we expect more. A major part of our income is spent on the feeding programme, almost as much as the cost of running the school itself.

Thank you so much to those of you who have donated in the past, you have made a real difference. if you are reading about us for the first time please remember the children of Miche Bora Primary School. Our aim is to provide a chance to escape poverty through a good  education. A healthy child can take better advantage of what we offer than a hungry child. .