Food, education and technology work together for ministry in Kenya.

Kenya (MNN)–The gap between Kenya’s poor and the rich is growing. A new report shows the wealthiest 10 percent of the population take 42 percent of the country’s income, while the poorest tenth earn less than one percent.

For the poor, food is scarce and the education system is broken. Africa Inland Mission’s Steve Peifer saw that firsthand in Kenya, which is why he stepped in to help.

He visited a classroom where he saw the students lying down on the dirt floor. When he asked the teacher why, she replied, ‘Today is Thursday. They haven’t eaten since Monday. If they sit up, they faint.’ He saw one book for every 11 students. He saw more and more cyclical poverty, and decided it was time to do something.

Peifer launched a feeding and technology program. He points to a direct corollary between academic achievement and nutrition. “The cost is pretty minor. I can feed a child a lunch six days a week for a month for between a dollar and a dollar 50. If we had 15 years where every Kenyan kid got a meal, stayed in school, and learned technology, we could break the back of poverty in that country and generation.”

More importantly, Peifer says the programs open doors to share the love of Christ. “This food is donated by Christians in America who love you, and we want to make sure they know that it’s people who have given sacrificially in the States that have provided this for them, and the computer center is the same way.”