A healthier environment for cooking, eating, and community gatherings.
Aduoyo Primary School sits in a little fishing village alongside Lake Victoria. In its early years, Aduoyo students sat under trees for their lessons. Thanks to generous Chalice supporters and sponsors, they now have classrooms and a robust school farm.
Most of Aduoyo’s children come from food insecure households and likely only eat one meal a day at home.
In response, Chalice launched a school feeding program at Aduoyo in 2017, and parents got involved in donating, preparing, and serving the daily lunch. The feeding program has had a tremendous impact. Enrolment and attendance shot up, and absenteeism dropped. The children’s national exam scores increased by more than 40% in the first year. There are now about 540 daily attendees, 68 of whom have Chalice sponsors.
The school improvised a cooking area and serving table. Their current kitchen is a small mud and iron-sheet construction. It has poor ventilation and it’s very smoky when the cooking fire is lit; the cooks, typically parents, feel their lungs and throats are irritated and they worry about respiratory issues. At lunchtime, children line up for food and then eat in their classrooms, often on the dusty floor. Sometimes when it is too hot, the children eat outside under trees, which is just as unhygienic.
The wider community also has no building for PTA and Chalice family circle meetings, training, and social gatherings. Meetings are often held outside, where parents and staff are exposed to the elements. The alternative is in classrooms or the church, which is frustrating because the rooms are too small and there’s many scheduling conflicts.
In partnership with Chalice, the Asembo site is building a 300m2 reinforced concrete dining hall with an attached kitchen, storage wing and washing area. The dining hall will seat 600, and be fitted with an energy saving stove, tables and benches, a rainwater harvesting system, and wired for electricity.
The total project funding request comes to $177,152.34 CAD, which includes all the construction materials, windows, doors, final finishes, 30 dining tables, 60 benches, two kitchen serving tables and the energy-saving stove.
The new building will protect the cooks from smoke inhalation, and the children from getting their food dusty and dirty. The hall will also serve as a recreational space for indoor games, and a functional hall for community meetings and training.
Program Location: Asembo, Kenya
Program Code: CPKAA0523
Budget in Canadian Funds: $177,152.34 CAD
DONATEPlease note that any donations that exceed the request will be used to fund other community projects that may arise.