Be More Josie – Newsletter – February 2026

Update from Annie:

My recent visit to Kirantich Primary School

I wanted to give our kind supporters an update on the school feeding programme in Molo, Kenya and let you know about the positive impact that your donations are having at KirantichPrimary School. I’ve just returned from a trip to Kenya to visit the schoolchildren who are benefiting from our school meals initiative, Be More Josie, which is named in honour of my late daughter who was a primary school teacher overseas.

While I was in Molo, we organised a belated Christmas dinner for the children at KirantichPrimary. On an ordinary school day, they eat beans and rice for their school meal but for this Christmas dinner we were able to offer them rice, potatoes, beans and meat. Some of the children had never eaten meat before, so this was a very special meal for them. As an additional treat, we also gave them a soda drink and a lolly. It was such a joy to see the children happily sticking out their tongues to admire the colour from the sweets!

As part of our programme, we also support the administration of deworming tables to the children to combat intestinal worms. This treatment is proven to not only reduce worm infections, but also to increase school attendance and improve long-term health for schoolchildren. Unfortunately, there is currently rising inflation and riots in Kenya which is having a negative impact on the economy and thus on our school meals programme as the cost of produce and medicine is going up. For example, the price of deworming tablets has increased threefold since my last visit to Kenya only a year ago.

There are now 175 children attending Kirantich Primary School. Through your donations to Be More Josie, we have been able to fund improvements to the school kitchen, which is now partially covered whereas previously the kitchen staff were cooking completely outside. We are also committed to helping to tackle period poverty at the school. We have so far helped to provide the older girls with ecofriendly period pants, but currently we are only able to offer one pair of pants per girl. We are keen to increase this number so they can each have additional pairs of period pants.

While I was in Molo, I also visited the nearby boys’ school who at the moment only get porridge as a meal during the school day. We took soda and lollies for the children there as a test, and they were delighted! With increased support from our donators, we hope to be able to offer our school meals programme in this school too.

We need your help!

As you can tell, our work in Molo is having a hugely positive impact of the lives of many schoolchildren. We’re so grateful for your current support, but in order to ensure we can continue with this work in the face of rising prices, we need to increase our fundraising. The cost of feeding 1 child for 1 month now stands at £15. We are therefore asking our regular donators if they would consider increasing their monthly donation to £15 per month.

Please spread the word about Be More Josie! Tell your friends and family about the work we are doing, and encourage them to support us. The school meals programme is helping more children in Molo to attend school and to stay in school through supporting them with meals, medicine and period products. There has never been a better time to support us as we continue to build a positive impact for these schoolchildren.

Share the link to our donation page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bemorejosie

Thank you for reading and for supporting our life-changing work for schoolchildren in Kenya.

Love,

Annie x