"The children have been coming to school constantly, and there is no absenteeism," said Paul Onyach, Headmaster of the school. The reason is simple - full stomachs make happy students. "We have free lunch and breakfast at this school and that is [something] positive for us," said Onyach.

Nearly 600,000 people live in Mathare, a 3-square-km slum area outside the Kenyan capital. Many local residents earn less than $1 per day and eat just one meal.

In this poverty-stricken area, there are 84 primary schools, which provide breakfast and lunch on the premises, charging 300 shillings ($3) per month, per child. However, many children from poor families cannot afford even these low fees, which is the main reason that they dropped out of school in the first place.

The free lunch and breakfast initiative at Page Vision Elementary School is provided by the Free Lunch for Children (FLFC) program in Africa. On March 1, 2017, this program was formally launched in the school by Chinese public welfare activist Deng Fei, together with the Chinese Red Cross Foundation and China Social Welfare Foundation.

At the time of writing, the project had provided 1,103 primary school students with free meals at Changrong Light Center, Hank Elementary School, Changqing Dream Building Service Association (DBSA) School, Success Elementary School and Page Vision Elementary School.

China's experience

In China, the FLFC program was launched in 2011. By the end of February this year, it had raised a total of 268.37 million yuan ($38.89 million). Thanks to the donations, 623 schools in the country's poverty-stricken areas have so far been able to provide free breakfast and lunch for students.

"Public welfare is without borders," Deng told ChinAfrica. The founder of the FLFC program in China believes with initiatives such as this one, children at school need no longer go hungry.

According to Deng, based on the experience of the successful operation of the FLFC in China, he launched the program in Africa. The meals should include meat, eggs and fruits to ensure a balanced diet. To guarantee that the whole operation process is transparent, schools are required to publicize related information on Facebook and Twitter regularly. In addition, local governments and residents also participate in supervising the operation.

Deng and his team also made some adjustments to the program in Africa to meet local needs. For example, the standard of meals in the African FLFC program is controlled in a unified way; the program executive team selects local food material suppliers, who distribute food materials to each school and are paid on the 20th of each month.

For Deng, program implementation in Africa is the key to success and he received great assistance from Yin Binbin, the founder of DBSA. Over the past three years, Yin, now Executive Director of the African FLFC program, and his team have raised money and helped rebuild three schools in Kenya.

Another challenge for Deng is raising funds for the African FLFC program. Deng was fortunate to team up with the Pearl Humanitarian Rescue Team, a Chinese NGO which donated 1 million yuan ($144,930) as the startup funds for Africa FLFC program early this year.

African FLFC program is not only applauded by local students, their teachers and parents, but also highly praised by the government. According to Deng, the Kenyan Government is even considering to include African FLFC program in its Vision 2030, the country's national long-term development blueprint, as an important measure to fight hunger and poverty.

Despite the success of the program outside of China, Deng believes there is still room for improvement. "I hope more schools in Africa can be covered by the program, and like its success in China, the program can really contribute to Africa's efforts in alleviating hunger problems," he told ChinAfrica.

Smiling children

In addition to the free lunch program, other Chinese NGOs have also launched similar projects in African countries. In 2015, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) launched the Smiling Children Project in Ethiopia and Sudan. Using the funds raised via major fundraising platforms in China, the project has provided free breakfast and lunch to more than 4,000 students in 42 schools in Ethiopia and more than 3,600 students in seven schools in Sudan.

The beneficiaries in Sudan are students mainly from refugee families, while those in Ethiopia are students from single-parent families, orphans or children affected by HIV/AIDS, according to Wu Peng, Director of International Development Department of CFPA.

The Smiling Children Project in Ethiopia has been jointly implemented by CFPA, China Lingshan Council for the Promotion of Philanthropy, the Office of the First Lady of Ethiopia and Ye Enat Weg Charitable Association of Ethiopia, a local charity organization.

A vital component of the Smiling Children Project in Ethiopia is the mothers' groups. Proposed by Ethiopia's First Lady Roman Tesfaye, the groups have been orgnized, comprising mothers of beneficiary students, who are responsible for material procurement, food preparation and distribution, according to Wu.

"Before joining mothers' groups, most of them were unemployed and none had a stable source of income," said Wu. "The project contributes to improving the living conditions of their families by offering them job opportunities and a stable income."

Selawit Tadesse is a fourth-grade student at Tinsaye Birhan Elementary School in Ethiopia. Before the launch of the project, the orphan relied on her aunt's meager income for livelihood. On the verge of dropping out of school because of meal costs, she is now assisted by the Smiling Children Project.

The Smiling Children Project in Sudan has been implemented by CFPA and its partner Al-Birr and Al-Tawasul Organization (BTO), a local charitable organization. This project covers seven schools in the states of Khartoum, White Nile and Red Sea in the country.

The regular meals have seen students' health status and academic performance improve, said Howyda Osman Mohamed, BTO Program Manager and Manager of Smiling Children Project in Sudan. "Children are stable and happy, as they are sure that the meal is coming and there's no need to fight with one another," she told ChinAfrica.