As Nairobi marks two years of the Dishi na County school feeding program, stories of transformation continue to emerge with none more powerful than that of 200 children who were rescued from scavenging at dumpsites and brought back to class.
According to Dandora 1 Primary School headteacher, Gladys Omollo, the initiative has not only improved nutrition among learners but has been a literal lifeline for children on the margins of society.
“Most of the learners who have come to our school were just loitering in the estate and eating from the garbage,” said Omollo. “But now that they know there is a reasonable meal, their parents have decided to bring them to school where they are safer.”
Omollo revealed that the school’s enrollment has jumped significantly from 2,850 to 3,380 pupils since the feeding program began. She attributes much of this increase to Dishi na County, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s flagship social welfare project launched in 2023 to provide a daily hot lunch to every public primary school student in the city.
The program has become a magnet for vulnerable children, many of whom were previously out of school, either due to poverty, neglect, or unstable family conditions.
“Some of these children were going to the dumpsite with their parents. With the Dishi na County initiative, we went to the dumpsite to campaign for their return to school because there is food,” she explained.
The impact, Omollo said, has extended beyond education and into community cohesion. “About 50 of our learners are currently feeding because other parents have mobilized and are paying for them. That’s how much the community values this meal.”
She further urged Nairobi County to consider extending the program into the school holidays, a period she says poses new risks to vulnerable children. “Most of the parents are requesting that, if possible during holidays, they can pay some amount of money for their children to feed. Most of them end up disappearing from home because they don’t have a meal,” she said.
“As the head of the institution, I want to plead with the county to consider my parents because we don’t want the kids to end up back in the dumpsite,” Omollo added.
Launched in August 2023 by Governor Sakaja, Dishi na County aims to provide over 310,000 meals daily to children in public primary schools and ECDE centres across Nairobi. The program has been widely praised for boosting school attendance, enhancing concentration in class, and easing the financial burden on low-income families.
Governor Sakaja has previously said the initiative is not just about food, but about dignity, opportunity, and equity. “No child in Nairobi should have to learn on an empty stomach,” he said at the program’s launch. “This is about investing in our future.”
For schools like Dandora 1 Primary, that investment is already paying off in powerful, visible ways—one hot meal at a time.