School Meals
Before leaving for her first trip to Tanzania in 2002, Charlotte had received several donations from friends. After arriving in Tanzania and visiting the small, rural primary school in the village of Byeya, it became clear how the funds would be used. Students at the small, run-down school were spending their entire day with no food or clean drinking water – Charlotte felt compelled to act. With the help of Mrs. Temu (who would later become co-director of Pocketful of Joy) and the school faculty, Charlotte established a modest uji* program for the four hundred and twenty students enrolled at the school.
Today, enrollment at Byeya has increased to nearly 600 student – reaching the school’s maximum capacity. Furthermore, the quality of the students’ work has significantly improved since the start of the uji program, with the Byeya Primary School becoming the number one ranked school in it’s district. In a similar vein, Ntoma and Nyakataare schools have begun experiencing comparable results since Pocketful of Joy established funding for their own uji programs.
Through this program we…
- feed nearly two-thousand children attending three primary schools
- employ three women from the local community who prepare the uji daily at each of the three schools
- support local farmers who sell us the milk for the uji
- support local businesses who sell us corn for the uji and cups for the students
- partner with parents who generously contribute 5 kilos of corn to the program each year
*What is uji? Uji is a hot porridge made from corn, milk and sugar. Cooks employed by Pocketful of Joy prepare the uji in small kitchens that we constructed at each of the three primary school. Uji is served on all school days with cups being provided for children who need them.
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