Young Chinese provide free lunch for poverty-stricken Kenyan pupils

Two years ago in a number of primary schools in Kenya's Mathare slums, located in the eastern part of the capital Nairobi, pupil's absenteeism was quite high. This was partly down to hunger and malnutrition. Today the schools' population has almost doubled, thanks to Free Lunch for Children International, founded by two Chinese youngsters.

Launched in 2017 by Liu Yimenghan and Yin Binbin, the program provides free breakfast (porridge) and lunch to primary schools in low income areas, mostly in slums.

The program is an alliance between Dream Building Service Association (DBSA), an international non-profit organization co-founded by the 23 year-old Liu and 27 year-old Yin in 2014, and Free Lunch for Children, a Chinese charity organization.

The project currently serves about 3,000 pupils in 15 primary schools in Nairobi.

Half of the schools are based in the Mathare slums, which is home to 500,000 people, where the vast majority of the population live under the poverty index in houses of mud and corrugated iron sheet.

In addition to Kenya, the program serves other African countries including Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Liu says they are targeting to expand it to 20 African countries in 2019, including South America and South East Asia, as well as work towards its sustainability.

Many families in the target areas are poor and unable to afford breakfast and lunch for their children, one of the reasons school age children don't attend school.

For the program's sustainability, Liu says they are trying to actively involve parents, who will either monitor or evaluate the project, or purchase some of the required items.

In Uganda and Tanzania, where some schools own plenty of land, they plan to motivate parents and equip them with agricultural skills, so that they can supply food to the organization or directly to schools.