The orphan lunch program started in mid-2003. In January of that year, approximately 75 bright-eyed children wearing new or hand-me-down brown, white and black checked uniforms hurried down dirt roads and through fields to the Lord Ranjuera Primary School in Kampi Ya Moto (which translates to Camp of Fire), eager to learn and proud to be able to say they were just like their peers who attended primary schools in nearby towns and villages. Their school had been built by funds raised through the Community of the Crucified One (CCO) based in Pennsylvania, USA. The children in Kampi Ya Moto were thrilled to finally have a school they could call their own. But there was one major distinction with these students; many of them were orphaned and most were too poor to bring a lunch to school.
By mid-morning the hot African sun beat down on the tin roof of their classroom, causing it to pop and crackle with the expansion of the metal. The same children who had run to school in the morning began to faint, due less to the heat and more to the fact that they hadn’t had a real meal since the day before, or in some cases, for the past couple of days.
Fr. Joseph Steger was a missionary in Kenya at the time, and it was his responsibility to oversee the maintenance of each of the schools that the CCO had built. When he learned that these children were passing out from lack of food, he asked for help from his friends and family back in the USA to get a lunch program started for them. People responded in spades, and before long, students were receiving a daily meal of porridge (uji) made from maize, millet, milk and sorghum. All of the students at the school lined up at noon to receive this meal, and in some cases children would quickly close the lid to their container in order to bring home what they could for family members who were going without. Despite the dirt floors and unscreened windows in the classrooms, the Lord Ranjuera Primary School in Kampi Ya Moto became known in the area as a “wealthy” school because they offered lunch to the students.
The success of the program was immediate and widely publicized, and before long the two other primary schools built by the CCO also asked for assistance with a lunch program for orphans attending their schools. By 2006 over 250 students in three locations were receiving a daily meal. Fr. Joseph’s family and a few faithful supporters maintained what became known as “the orphan feeding program” (OFP) through an organization called “Kids in Kenya”. In 2009, they asked Everyone’s Child to take over the funding and running of the program. In the years that followed people going on tours of our schools in Kenya were allowed to participate in serving lunch to these children, experiencing first hand the results of a fundraising program that includes donors from all over the USA and Canada.
Sr. Kateri Walker of Moretown, Vermont went to Kenya a few years after the initiation of the OFP. She was deeply moved by the people she met and sights she saw. However, after her visit she decided that rather than return to Kenya again she would use her resources and connections to upgrade the OFP, moving it forward so more people could become aware and involved. She remains a regular sponsor to the OFP to this day.
Today, 310 students between the ages of 3 and 13 line up in the three primary schools to receive a daily meal that is paid for by supporters of Everyone’s Child. In addition, orphaned children in Kampi Ya Moto receive a second lunch of rice and beans to carry them through the rest of the day. All told, EC is providing over 360 meals per day to students in Kenya who would otherwise go hungry.
The letter above is one I received during my trip to Kenya in May 2015. In it Cliff Olendo (a student from Nakuru Teacher’s Primary School in Kiti) expresses his appreciation for a program that has fed hundreds if not thousands of children since 2003. I wanted to share it with you – the real supporters of this lunch program. For those of you who give to the OFP, you need to know that your gift does and is affecting lives right now – today – in real time. I hope you read and take to heart the prayer he bestows on you; that you truly do receive twice what you ask for as a blessing and reward for what you are giving to the least of them.
For those of you reading this who would like to join in this effort of sustaining orphaned children with a daily meal at their school, welcome to our ranks! Currently this program costs EC close to $900.00 per month. A donation of $30.00 will feed six students for a month. $100.00 will feed a single student for an entire school year. You can send your tax-deductible donation to Everyone’s Child, 20 Vermont Route 100 South, Moretown, VT 05660, or for a secure online donation, click here.
Thank you. By contributing to this program you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have made it that much easier for an orphaned student to stay in school.