Light at the End of a Tunnel: Story of Melvin
Melvin and her Mother
“I can finally concentrate on my studies and realize my dream of becoming a lecturer in foreign languages,” says Melvin with a broad smile on realizing Light Up Hope staff made a visit to her home. Melvin, a grade 7 student is one of the 1,715 learners receiving lunch every school day at Embulbul Primary School in Kajiado North Sub County, Kajiado County. The school has unique challenges in that it is located in a slum and 90% of the learners come from underprivileged households, those that can hardly afford a meal and this means that going to bed hungry for most of the families is almost a norm.
The circumstances surrounding this community are rife in Melvin’s family. Her mother, Awino and her casual laborer father,take care of 12(6 males and 6 females) children in an all rusty iron sheets rented house. Melvin’s mother confessed that she could not tell the number of days they have gone to bed hungry, hoping that their day the following day would be different. This forced Melvin to miss school at least twice a week to help her parents in looking out for income to feed the family. This means that in a month Melvin could miss school up to 8 to 10 days a month.
In Embulbul Primary School, hunger had hit hard. Learners in the school could be allowed to bring in food from home for them to have something for lunch. Unfortunately, 70% of the learners did not afford to bring food to school due to their sorry state at home. Melvin and her three siblings who study in Embulbul could not afford to carry food to school because even at home, there was none. Hope was rekindled in February when the school started receiving food supplies from Light Up Hope. “Absenteeism suddenly became a thing of the past…learners began concentrating in class during the afternoon lessons and you could see life in the learners”, remarked the school head during the routine monitoring visits made to the school.
Melvin’s mother and the rest of the parents were called to school and informed of Light Up Hope’s feeding program in the school. This really became a relief to the households like Melvin’s. Melvin and her siblings carry home part of the food they receive during lunch time so that their mother can also have something to eat after a heavy day of fending for the family. “You can not send a child to do casual jobs on a weekday since they know they have food at school, they will not accept,”Melvin’s mother said as she praised the feeding program. She noted that she had always longed to see face to face with staff from the program to pass her regards for the good work being done for her four children in Embulbul Primary School.
Melvin aspires to become a lecturer of foreign languages in future and her hope is that the feeding program will continue in her school. She also noted that she has friends in school who are also hit hard back in their homes and the feeding program is the only hope that they have as they are assured of at least one meal a day every school day. “Asante sana (Thank you very much) Light Up Hope and may God bless you..” said a happy Melvin.
