By Loisa Maloba and Saviano Abreu, OCHA Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa
The passion and motivation that pushes Wawira Njiru to work tirelessly in support of vulnerable children in Kenya started at very young age, when she was growing up in a small village in the countryside.
“I realized the difference between having three meals a day compared with other children around me who could not afford it. I could see the link between access to food and education,” she remembers.
Her early understanding of how hunger can prevent children from attending school and fulfilling their potential led Wawira to start a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Food for Education as a university student in 2012. The organization began providing food to 25 students in Nairobi so that they would not go to school on an empty stomach.