Mtwapa Feeding Center

On Sunday the 21st of July, some members of the team joined the Mtwapa Feeding Center for a few hours of volunteering. The center offers a meal to 1000 to 2000 local children every Sunday. In addition, each child can take home a bag of flour. Therefore, it is clear that the local families highly rely on these feeding operations to subsist.

Before entering the center, we are amazed to see hundreds of children queuing before the entrance. In a way, it was heartwelming to see all those kids playing around, smiling and waving at us, exited to get a meal. On the other hand, it was difficult and heartbreaking to realise that the meal they were about to get was a real luxury: most of these children come from poor families and subsist on a bowl or two of Ugali (maize paste) per day.

Many volunteers were working at the center that day, we had the pleasure to meet youngsters from all around Europe (UK, Denmark, Germany) who, like us, came to help the center besides their other activities in Kenya.

The menu of the day included rice, beans, bread and orange juice. After being prepared, the food was distributed to the kids in groups of four. We were amaze at the organization of the operation: in a matter of an hour, 1600 children got fed and were ready to return home. We were told that usually the feeding is a lot busier, however, many local children did not attend due to the Ramadan.

The Mtwapa feeding center is run by wealthy locals and this weekly operation is financed by various companies and charities. We were told that on that day the operation was financed by an  Asian company. Every Sunday, the center spends around 200 000 Kenyan Shillings (2000 euros) to finance the food, the cooks, cleaners...etc.

This experience was truly incredible and definitely an eye-opener. Working at the feeding center made us understand how lucky we are to have an unlimited access  to food and drinking water. Daily in the Western world we waste huge quantities of food, without realizing that a meal is a luxury for some people.