Fighting Climate-Worsened Child Hunger, One Cup of Uji at a Time

Most Kenyan schoolchildren head to class without having eaten breakfast. Cup of Uji is doing something about that.

Orphaned at age three, Ronaldo Odhiambo moved in with his grandmother in her rural western Kenyan town, joining two cousins. A few years later, two more made their way into the fold.

Damaris Ogwang Ombura became the anchor for five grandchildren.

“She didn’t find it easy to bring food to the table,” Odhiambo recalled. “She prioritized paying school fees for us.”

Climate Change Increasing Food Insecurity

Climate change – specifically, longer dry spells and less predictable rainy seasons – is triggering increased food insecurity in Kenya, where 98 percent of all crops are rain-fed.

Acute hunger increased by 85 percent from 2016 to 2021 in Kenya, with an unpredictable climate and extreme weather acting as a “threat multiplier” to drive food insecurity, according to an Oxfam report that examined 10 countries identified as climate hotspots.

Most of the 10.3 million Kenyan children who attend primary school and 3.7 million enrolled in secondary school head to class without having eaten breakfast. More than a quarter of Kenya’s children under age five experience stunted growth.