Life in Kafunjo: Cooking/Meal Times

Robert is the Head Cook of The Kafunjo Community Project. Cooking three meals a day for all the children and staff is an all day job - it’s a lot of work. The cooks start working at 5:30am in order to have breakfast ready by about 6:30am. Immediately after, they start cooking again to have lunch ready by 1pm, and dinner goes about the same. They cook their food in giant pots over an open fire using matches and firewood. The foods they cook the most are Posho (corn flour mixed with water), beans, and fresh vegetables harvested from their fields. When they can afford it, the Project also buys rice and bananas for those whose bodies can’t tolerate Posho. For some, Posho causes pain and an upset stomach.

The students who return to their families in the village at the end of the day are usually only served lunch at the Project. This is because they typically arrive too late for breakfast and, at dinner time, they start walking back home in order to be there before dark. However, many of the older students continue studying until 10pm - per the rules of the Ministry of Education - and they eat dinner at the Project along with those who live at the orphanage.

While the goal is to feed each child at the orphanage three full meals per day, children aged 5 and older usually only receive two small meals due to the unaffordability of food. Children under the age of 5 are fed breakfast as often as possible due to their fragility against the effects of hunger. Sadly, it’s fairly common for the young children to also only eat 2 meals per day due to food shortages - despite being prioritized. When they do eat breakfast, only Posho porridge is served, which is a small amount of corn flour cooked with a lot of water. Posho porridge helps to stretch the food in store and make it last longer. Many children are still hungry after breakfast and Bruno says he’s seen many small children give up their meal in order for a friend to have two portions.