President William Ruto on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, hosted Lesotho’s King Letsie III at State House where the two heads of state discussed cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
King Letsie III, who arrived in the country on Monday, March 17, 2025, and was received by Uasin Gishu County Senator Jackson Mandago, was welcomed at State House as his three-day visit to the country came to close.
“Held talks with King Letsie III of Lesotho, State House Nairobi. We affirmed the strong and cordial relations between our two nations, and deliberated on ways of enhancing them,” Ruto said in a statement.
“Consequently, we directed our foreign ministers to convene the Joint Commission on Cooperation to explore more areas of collaboration. We also discussed school feeding programmes in Kenya and Lesotho, and expressed satisfaction with the impact they have had in education, including boosting school attendance, improving learning outcomes, and enhancing health and nutrition,” Ruto added.
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, King Letsie participated in a school feeding programme at Ruiru Primary School in the company of African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina and Wawira Wanjiru who is a champion of the Food for Education initiative.
Food 4 Education
On March 13, 2025, Food for Education revealed that the total meals they provide for school-going children had reached 500,000 in a day.
“From a humble makeshift kitchen serving just 25 children to reaching half a million meals every day, our journey has been nothing short of incredible. While we’ve grown in leaps and bounds, our mission remains the same: no child should have to learn on an empty stomach,” Food4Education said in a statement on February 28, 2025.
Food4Education is a non-profit organization providing school meals to children in Kenya. Since 2012, it has grown from serving 25 meals a day to 500,000 daily meals in more than 1,300 schools across 10 counties through partnerships with parents, county governments and donors and creating over 4300 jobs in the process.
The organisation has co-funding partnerships in the counties of Murang’a, Mombasa and Nairobi where they contribute Ksh15 to provide fortified porridge or lunch.
The cost per meal for lunch is Ksh45 which includes food ingredients, logistics, Tap2Eat technology, sourcing, overheads, utilities (water, electricity etc), cooking fuel and labour. The meals consist of 550g-650g of rice, vegetables, beans or lentils, and fruit.
In Nairobi County, the County contributes Ksh25, parents contribute Ksh5, and Food4Education contributes Ksh15. With the support of the French government, vulnerable students in Nairobi County who cannot afford the contribution, selected by teachers and the community have the meals at no cost.
