Numerous children in Kilifi are unable to attend school as they are unable to access sufficient food and nutrition. The LEAF and Star Seed worked together with 12 local school communities to provide fruit trees. We purchased 460 fruit trees and 42 saplings, favouring grafted fruit trees to reduce the time learners will have to wait before the first produce.

Between the 22nd to the 25th of May these native fruit trees were planted, educating the communities on their maintenance in order to create a stable food supply for these schools in the future.

The process was not without its challenges that we had to work to overcome as quickly as possible. There were some circumstances where fruit trees were stolen after delivery to the schools, mainly grafted mango tree seedlings, grafted orange tree seedlings and passion fruit seedlings. A case from one school whose drainage was found to be poor resulted in some seedlings having been submerged in water for far too long, causing them to die. There have also been reported cases of goats eating the leaves of some fruit tree seedlings. To overcome this issue, cage-like structures were put up by the students with the help of the education officers to protect the seedlings from cattle and students while playing. Additionally, to protect the seedlings from floods, tunnels were made to act as an outlet for excess water.

Despite these challenges, the remaining fruit seedlings are currently thriving with a 98% survival rate.