Forty-nine learners with special needs at Mnarani and Matsangoni Public Comprehensive Schools in Kilifi County are set to benefit from upgraded kitchens and school gardens under a year-long feeding programme supported by the Rotary Club of Kilifi.

The initiative, backed by 14 partner organisations, currently provides a monthly supply of rice, beans, and flour for porridge to more than 300 learners. Of these, 21 are from Mnarani and 28 from Matsangoni, all of whom have special needs.

The kitchen upgrade, which has been underway for the past four months, involves rebuilding kitchens, installing modern cooking equipment, and improving school gardens. Members of the Rotary Club of Kilifi have been supervising the works.

Learners with special needs join Rotary Club of Kilifi members and visiting partners during the unveiling of the upgraded school feeding programme in Kilifi County.

The project has cost Sh700,000, with most of the funds raised through partners in the United Kingdom.

Rotary Club of Kilifi President Nancy Happiness said hunger remains one of the biggest barriers to learning in schools across the country, adding that some learners with special needs attend school largely because they are assured of a meal.

“A child who has not eaten cannot concentrate, and for our learners with special needs, the meal is often what brings them to school in the first place,” Happiness said.

The programme targets learners from low-income households and seeks to improve school attendance and concentration while helping protect children from nutrition-related deficiency diseases by ensuring they receive at least one meal on every school day.

Happiness expressed special appreciation to three partner clubs, Midhurst and Petworth Rotary Club, Addiscombe and Shirley Rotary Club, and Chichester Harbour Rotary Club, for supporting the initiative.

“I would like to offer special thanks to the Midhurst and Petworth Rotary Club, Addiscombe and Shirley Rotary Club, and Chichester Harbour Rotary Club for standing with us,” she said.

She also credited Rangesh Nallan, a member of the Midhurst and Petworth Rotary Club in England, with leading the mobilisation of funds and manpower for the project.

Nallan also engaged young road trackers in Kilifi, whose participation, Happiness said, contributed significantly to the implementation of the programme.

Nallan said the feeding programme emerged from an earlier partnership between his club and organisations in Kilifi.

“Last year my club, together with ten other organisations, did the ‘Roll-out the Barrel’ water initiative here in Kilifi, and it was then that President Nancy Happiness alerted us about this food initiative, which she felt was needed to facilitate proper learning in schools,” he said.

By Phillip Kipele