Earlier this year, we embarked on the Feed A School Program. Through this project, we reach out to underprivileged children from four schools who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as a result of the seizure of school meals.
The closure of schools worldwide has precipitated the largest education crisis in history, with more than 1.5 billion children deprived of schooling (UNESCO, 2020b). This has implications for nearly all the world's children, immediately barring access to education and to the other benefits of the education system as a platform for delivering community services, safety nets and other critical transfers, and in the long term diminishing the prospects of a better future life. From the perspective of school feeding programmes, 370 million children in at least 161 countries were suddenly deprived of what was, for many, their main meal of the day (WFP, 2020).
Increasing inequity is a significant issue: the impacts of COVID-19 are not distributed equally. For the most vulnerable children, those who rely most heavily on school meals and for whom homeschooling is often least available, the adverse effects of school closures could be lifelong. This effect has not only tragic consequences for the individual but also lowers human capital and perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty and inequality.
The consequences for the individual child may be direct, such as loss of access to food at school and in education. Still, there are also less obvious but equally severe social consequences, including greater risks of abuse and engaging in inappropriate acts. These risks threaten girls in particular because long-term school dropout is linked to increased child labour, child marriage and transactional sex.
As a social enterprise committed to a shared value, we are proud to partner with PLAN INTERNATIONAL in Makeni City in Sierra Leone to establish the Feed A School program. Through the Feed, A School Program, we reached out to four schools across Makeni City, accounting for over 2000 student and teacher lives we impacted directly and indirectly. With the $1,500 financial support from Plan International, we provided these schools and communities bags of rice, gallons of cooking oil, cooking beans, and other assorted items.
"The world needs more of this kindness, and collectively if we can contribute our various resources towards making life good for mankind, then the world would be a better place for all"- Foday David Kamara (Co-Founder)
