Porridge and Rice - a brief history

Porridge and Rice started after a group of school students visited Ngando in Nairobi as part of a work experience trip before starting to study medicine at University in 2014. The group were visiting an HIV clinic in the district and asked their guide John, one of the service users, to show them a local school. He took them to Excel Emmanuel, where his daughters went to school, and they were really impressed with what the teaching staff were able to achieve with the little resources they had.

When they returned to the UK, the group decided to set up a charity to help improve the educational prospects for these poverty-stricken schools. When they were in Nairobi, they had asked what kind of help would make the biggest difference for the children - the answer was food. Children are frequently hungry, always malnourished, and so they find it hard to concentrate, and have to miss school because of ill health.

Starting from partnership with 1 school in 2014, in 2020 the charity partners with 5 schools across Nairobi, feeding nearly 2000 children each day. The Kenyan leadership team goes from strength to strength, achieving more than the UK trustees could have hoped for. KCPE results (the exam at the end of Junior school, which students must get high marks in to attend high school) continue to improve, and the school rolls continue to grow.

The charity remains ambitious for its partners, looking always to the future - sustainability is key, as is continued fund raising in the UK and elsewhere overseas.

Porridge and Rice has a zero tolerance approach to all forms of fraud, bribery, and corruption.