Give Hope to Communities in Kenya and Around the World This Holiday Season

2024 is coming to an end, but there is still time to make a lasting impact and provide hope for communities worldwide this year! Millions of people face hunger globally — but real change and community-led transformation are possible with your support. Through our Shop Hope online marketplace, you can purchase gifts that support farming and gardening, nutrition and education, health and hygiene, and economic development. Each gift makes an impact toward sustainable hunger relief and provides hope for people around the world — like schoolchildren in Kenya! 

Over the past few months, we’ve shared our It Starts With a Meal: Kenya series about the community-led transformation you’ve helped make possible in Kenya. Rise Against Hunger works with in-country partner Rural Family Hope on the Feed for Knowledge project in southwestern Kenya. This is a region with malnutrition rates higher than the national average and the country’s lowest school feeding rates, and the project works alongside seven schools in the area to holistically reduce malnutrition for the students and local communities. 

Students at the seven schools receive nutritious meals daily comprised of local ingredients, local farmers are trained on sustainable agriculture practices, the schools are provided with water tanks and school gardens are established. These initiatives support education, agriculture, livelihoods and health in these communities, creating real impact for people like Befil, Samwel, Graham and Lorna.  

Befil, a grade 8 student at Awendo Primary School

The school feeding program has supported Befil’s education. She receives two meals every day at school. These meals ensure she has the nutrition she needs to regularly attend school and focus on her classes. Hoping to become a doctor or engineer one day, school is very important to her. “I like to come to school because education is the key to success,” she said.

In addition to Befil, students across the seven schools are also experiencing positive changes. Enrollment has collectively increased 17%, and academic performance has improved at all schools.

Samwel Onyango, a sweet potato farmer

As part of the Feed for Knowledge project, over 500 farmers — including Samwel — have received sustainable agriculture training. Samwel is a sweet potato farmer. Since implementing the skills learned in the training, his farm yields and quality of life have improved, and he shared, “The purpose I decided to come into farming sweet potatoes and other crops is just for food security.” He also provides some of the sweet potatoes he harvests to local schools for the students’ daily meals, supporting their nutritional needs.

Graham, a grade 8 student at Simbauti Primary School 

The seven schools participating in the Feed for Knowledge project reported an 85% decrease in malnutrition rates in just one year! This means the schools’ students are receiving the nutrition needed to be healthy and thrive, including Graham. He receives two meals per day at Simbauti Primary School and has noticed an improvement in his wellbeing. “I feel better [after eating the meals] because they are healthy foods, which are balanced diets and they give us health in our bodies,” he said.

Lorna Gwoma, Principal at Awendo Primary School

As Awendo Primary School’s principal, Lorna is committed to the health and happiness of her students. The school previously only had one 5,000-liter tank of water, which didn’t support all of their water, sanitation and hygiene needs. Through the project, the school has been provided two additional tanks, which now supply 20,000 liters of water. This ensures that the school and its students have regular and reliable access to clean water, which has led to Lorna seeing improvements in the students’ health. “I can see a great change in the children,” she said. “The parents are happy, and the teachers are equally happy. The community as a whole is happy about the program.”

These stories from Kenya are just some of the impact your support makes possible. Will you help us support resilience and bright futures for people in Kenya and around the world? Give now through the Shop Hope marketplace this holiday season.