Ruffs Kitchens
Food poverty is one of the world’s greatest threats. Around 34% of Zimbabwe’s population lives in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 per day.
With 5.5 million people in rural Zimbabwe currently facing starvation, we at Ruff’s Kitchens are determined to make a difference - by supporting our charitable foundation, you can help beat hunger. Further exacerbated by a contracting economy, an ever-growing population and severe draughts, it is estimated that the country’s poverty levels will rise by approximately 10% year on year. Zimbabwe’s fi
14/01/2024
Some exciting news for Ruffs Kitchens.
www.gears.je will be donating £150 to Ruffs Kitchens for every car they sell.
Gears is based on the inner road where the old SGB hires shop was, if your in the market for a car please pay them a visit, you can also view there cars on there website and page, please like there page as they have new stock weekly.
.je-ruffskitchens.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089996738253
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Hello, in my Quest to keep my updates regular please see below reports form our field offices, all is going well, but as you can see its not as simple as handing out food, a lot of montoring and logistics are involved.
First Visit (9 January 2023)
- I accompanied the Mahewu Distributing Truck, making sure that each school receives the correct amount of mahewu as well as all the donated new equipment and utensils used in preparation and serving of mahewu.
- The same trip was used to conduct spot checks in order to guarantee and reaffirm the strict adherence to the regulations guiding the feeding programme. I also distributed the forms containing the conditions and the agreement between the schools and Ruff’s Kitchens
- Further training of new volunteers was also carried out at each centre.
Second Visit (24 January – 29 January)
- Peter and I conducted field visit on which we visited all the schools with the exception of Piriviri and Nyadengu Primary schools who were not reachable due to flooded rivers which were overflowing.
- In all the schools visited, we trained volunteers on the implementation of the programme especially during storage, preparation and saving of mahewu.
- We also utilised the visit to do spot checks during which we took pictures of storage and children enjoying mahewu.
Third Visit (07 February – 10 February)
- Peter, Mr Kachambwa (Ministry of Education Feeding Programme District Official) and I visited the schools during which we conducted spot checks and further guided and supported the schools in the correct implementation of the programme.
- The visits proved particularly more important due to the presence of the Ministry of Education Official who was providing more authoritative support and guidance especially through emphasising that the Ministry is closely monitoring the programme in order to ensure that all schools are maintaining the standards.
Fourth Visit (28 February 2023)
- I accompanied Mahewu Distribution Truck, making sure that the schools receive the correct amounts of mahewu during this second and final distribution for the first school term.
- I also checked all the feeding programme facilities and implementation to see to it that all the procedures were being followed.
Fifth Visit (7 March – 10 March)
- Peter, Mr Kachambwa and I visited all the schools to check on the programme. We were looking at various aspects such as hygiene, safe storage, record keeping and feeding statistics.
- We were impressed by the implementation of the programme in the schools since all the advices, guidelines and support were being utilised by the school.
COMMENT
The schools and the communities are continuing to embrace the Feeding Programme through upholding and maintaining all recommended standards in storing, preparation and serving of mahewu. As a result, children and the communities at large are benefiting tremendously. Provision of new utensils to replace worn out ones proved important in maintaining the required
standards. Frequent monitoring visits and spot checks in schools, especially with the ministry of education official and the volunteer training were impactful in improving the standards. Teachers, Parents, children and the Ministry of education are really appreciative of the help they are getting. In fact the Ministry of Education is requesting for several other schools to be assisted with the feeding programme which it says are recording significant drop outs due to hunger. Mowa, Kemupfuti and Chemundi are among those schools. The government programme that was designed to help with schools fees to those who cannot afford is not managing to accommodate all the eligible children, therefore we are meeting with the Ministry to remind them of the feeding programme agreement which is that children must be allowed to attend school to receive their mahewu.
Overall, the programme is flourishing, and it is achieving the set goals. We will update on our meeting with the Ministry.
05/03/2023
Good morning, June 2022 was the last time i gave an update on Ruffs Kitchens Feeding Programme!
I woke up this morning thinking why do i not shout about it anymore and how can I make the program bigger and better?
This is the 10th year i have been running the feeding programme and we are still feeding over 5,000 children at school every day, even during Covid when the schools were closed, we kept the feeding programme going allowing parents to collect food from the schools, nothing has stopped the programme since it started.
Over the coming days I am going to launch a just giving page that I will run and restart 3 weeks before the start of each school term,
We buy the food for the whole term in advance along with everything else we need for the feeding programme, so by running a funding page before the start of each term will allow anybody who wishes to help fund that terms food to do so, If it’s successful we can increase the number of children we feed.
The difference the feeding program makes is huge to these children literally lifesaving that’s why it must continue forever 😊
“the value of having a cup of nutritious mahewu every day at school can never be underrated. The increased enrollment in all schools corroborates the observations. All these groups declared that the programme remains the single most outstanding school based project that is not only promoting education but also uplifting the livelihoods of the communities” (a message from peter who is on the ground in Zim)
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