Sinq school meal prep - 2021

October of 2017, we started a pilot program providing lunch to several students at our KayAmba School. We were informed by the teachers that some of the children do not have anything to eat during lunch break. In many cases, the kids bring empty lunch boxes from home so they don’t look bad or feel left out in front of their friends. Their ages range between 5 and 7 years old. They are all kindergartners. Upon learning this, we called a meeting with their parents to ask why they don’t pack lunch for their kids and the answer was all the same. They simply did not have the money. We figured, if they don’t have the means to pack lunch for school, they probably don’t have the means to eat an adequate meal at home altogether. In order to combat this issue, we came up with a method to give each parent a weekly cash allowance that was strictly to be used for their kid’s meals. We asked the teachers to check on each child every day to make sure of it. We tested out this model of distribution for two years. Not only was it not as effective as we had hoped, but in some cases a few parents chose to use the money for other necessities entirely.

Rather than give up on the idea, we explored a better way to address the issue. We needed to find a cook nearby and pay for the food along with the delivery. Fortunately, we found out that one of our sponsored moms has a cooking background for hotels. We asked her to give us a budget for thirteen kids along with labor and transportation. Happy to say, not only has it been a success, but we were also able to create a business opportunity for an individual who was dependent our monthly aid.

Based on this success, we have decided to expand this initiative using the same model in different schools. And if we are going to do it the right way, we knew it needed its own brand and identity under the Take Care of Home umbrella.

We introduce you to Sinq, a word which means food to go in Amharic. The importance of food and water does not need an elaborative explanation. With this initiative, we plan on making a conscious effort to identify kids who do not have the means to pack lunch at every school we are involved in. It is our hope that you will see the vitality of providing food for these students and that you will find this program worthy of your donation.