Favorite Meal

Posho and Beans - ready for students at the school kitchen!

Having some down time during our visits to Uganda is sometimes when we learn the most! I recently had the chance to sit with some of the Primary 7 students (think “middle schoolers”) in Bubago. All nine of these students stay in the dormitories.

One of the girls sitting next to me asked if I liked posho (a stiff cornmeal porridge); I said “yes, I actually do.” She wanted to know if I wanted to finish her lunch of posho and beans.  I declined, but I really do enjoy this meal. The women tease me since it is a “kid’s meal” and never understand when I turn down a chance to eat the meat they fix.

I asked why she was wanting to share and she told me she was given a big helping and she was so very tired of posho and beans. I questioned her further and she said they have posho and beans for lunch every day at school. What I didn't know, but the kids were quick to tell me, is that they also have posho and beans for dinner every night. They weren’t complaining! Just sharing the tedium of the same meal two times every day - with a breakfast of porridge with no sugar.

I decided to stay on the topic of food with the kids and posed the question “If you could have anything you wanted for a meal, what would you choose?” They simultaneously gave me an enthusiastic “Rice!” Rice. Wow. So I followed that with “what about meat with the rice? Would you like chicken?” “YES” was the loud answer!

I asked how often they had rice with or without chicken and most said “never”. One girl said her family sometimes had it on Christmas day, but they all said they did not have it on Easter.

That was a lot to wrap my mind around. I thought about all the different answers kids in the US might give: pizza, tacos, ice cream, etc. What a different world it is for kids to crave rice!  

Needless to say, a delivery of “takeaway” rice and chicken will be delivered to the nine Primary 7 students the day before they sit for their Primary Leaving Exams. We hope they enjoy the treat, complete with a soda to drink!

This is why our Love in a Lunch program is so important! We would love to expand the menu for the students in 2026. A portion of the funds raised at Cheers to Uganda will go towards supporting the school lunch program. Our primary goal is to make sure all students are fed - but wouldn't it be great to add a weekly meal of rice?