Wawira Njiru

While I went to school well-fed, ready and able, they went to class on empty stomachs.

And as a result, many of them were held back and others dropped out.

But I know every single one of them saw their potential being wasted.

Hunger was a thief of opportunity, one that we had to stop before it swallowed us all.

So as a nutrition student, I started researching on school feeding programs, but what I mostly found was flawed systems and broken promises.

Across Africa, a lot of the food supply was run by foreign organizations, and it was aid-based.

They relied on warehouses full of imported food, sidelining local producers and not involving local communities or governments.

Elsewhere in the West, where school meals were almost universal, they had issues of their own.

Programs relied on processed foods and complex supply chains that were harmful to the environment and local economies.

At home in Kenya, outside a few targeted programs, a few schools provided kids meals.

But it was often expensive and inefficient.

Schools would often require parents to pay in advance, which was inconceivable for low-income families.

Quality was also an issue, with high incidences of spoilage and contamination.

So I stopped.

I stopped looking for the perfect model, and I started looking at the strengths of the communities and the people around me.

That was the start of Food for Education, an African-led and locally run solution to ending childhood hunger.

School feeding programs have existed for hundreds of years.

It's one of the most bankable social safety nets a society can offer.

In fact, I'm so sure many of you may remember your favorite school meal from your younger days.

And I hope that memory is a good one.