Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
Porridge and Rice Annual Report Registered Charity Number 1155841 Trustees’ report and accounts For the year to 30 September 2024
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
| 1 | Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 3 |
|---|---|
| 2 | The UK ......................................................................................................................................... 4 |
| 3 | Kenya ........................................................................................................................................... 6 |
| 4 | Ukraine ......................................................................................................................................... 8 |
| 5 | Legal and Administrative Details .............................................................................................. 11 |
| 6 | Governance and management .................................................................................................... 12 |
| 7 | Operational review ..................................................................................................................... 13 |
| 8 | Financial Review........................................................................................................................ 14 |
| 9 | Accounts for 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024 ................................................................. 15 |
Figure 1: Picking up clothing collected in the UK and delivered to Ukraine for distribution among orphans
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
1 Introduction
Porridge and Rice continued its work in Kenya and Ukraine focusing on disadvantaged children, in Kenya children in the slums attending schools that are not supported by the government and in Ukraine, orphans who are growing up without the benefit of parental care.
The work of the charity in Kenya is defined by the seven programmes - Feeding and Nutrition, Health and Hygiene, Facilities and Furniture, Education and Sponsorship, Extracurricular Activities, Accountability and Sustainability, and Rights and Gender. Feeding and Nutrition remains the lead programme, serving breakfasts to nearly 2000 children each school day. The impact of the feeding programme continues to be significant enabling children to focus on learning without a grumbling stomach.
The work of the charity in Ukraine continues to evolve as it begins to understand the challenges and needs of orphans in the country especially with the ongoing war. Initially, the focus was on orphans in institutions, addressing their physical, educational and psychological needs. Then, it moved to including orphans leaving their institutions and integrating into regular life. Now, it has begun to include orphans that have been taken into foster families as the government moves to significantly reduce the number of orphanages in the country.
The income of the charity has yet to return to pre-COVID levels. The charity used to raise considerable funds from summer and school fairs, but it no longer does these events, and is exploring new ways to raise funds that are not labour intensive and more stable such as raffles.
Figure 2: Pupils at Lizpal queue for Uji at breakfast time.
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
2 The UK
It was a while ago, but remains a fact that COVID fundamentally changed how the charity operates with the UK mainly in two areas, volunteers and fundraising.
In respect of volunteers, the charity no longer has access to large numbers of volunteers willing to provide their time to help with activities from sorting books to staffing stands at fairs. The volunteer base the charity used to have was predominantly made up of secondary school pupils and university students. Furthermore, there is no plan to rebuild this volunteer base but rather to find new ways of operating relying on a much smaller group of volunteers available for a limited amount of time. This has required that charity to make changes to the way it operates in the UK.
As summer and school are labour intensive, the charity has phased them out. The charity had a stand at two fairs last year, but this year has attended none, and does not plan to have stands at any future events. As the charity used to raise considerable funds from public events and school fairs, it has had to rethink how it generates the income it needs to fund its activities.
The charity is moving away from raising funds that are labour intensive. The future model is not based on requiring many people for perform its activities. The charity has a number of ideas which it is exploring and testing from expanding its source of donations to selling second hand goods online. The charity is looking to build relationships with organisations that support charities as a regular part of doing business, monthly standing order donations, and events that are not labour intensive. It will take time to evaluate each option and implement them.
Figure 3: Shopping with orphans for gifts for St. Nicholas Day in Ukraine
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
Second hand books sold on-line has been a valuable source of income for the charity for the year. The charity receives a steady stream of book donations so has no shortage of books to sell, however, the process is quite labour intensive.
The books first have to be sorted with the majority not being worth listing for sale. Once sorted, books that are not worth selling have to be packed in black totes to be collected by a company that buys them for recycling. Books that are worth selling, then have to be listed, with prices monitored daily to remain competitive. When sales take place, books have to be located, packaged and despatched at the local post office. Most of the tasks can be done by one or two people, but they involve considerable time.
Older books especially ones that are out of print, are the most valuable generating good income for the charity. New books sell too cheaply often below the cost of standard postage so are usually sent to be pulped and recycled. While books sell steadily, the charity does not sell sufficient volume to gain access to bulk postage rates, so cannot compete with much larger companies.
Standing orders have proved to be a valuable source of income for many charities, and Porridge and Rice is looking into ways of increasing the number of people that are willing to sign up to monthly contributions which can also be increased with gift aid. It is believable that while this will be slow, it can become a valuable source of income, if not, the main source of income for the charity.
Figure 4: Easter celebration meal at the retreat for the orphans
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
3 Kenya
The continued success of the work done by Porridge and Rice in Kenya is due to the stability of the local leadership team under its chair Mr Titus Kimongo, Head of Excel School. After years of working with Porridge and Rice, Mr Kimongo understands how the charity operates and its goals, and the charity has an excellent relationship with him as he has proven to be extremely trustworthy and competent. He manages local activities such as the purchase and distribution of food supplies.
The charity work in Kenya is divided in seven programmes - Feeding and Nutrition, Health and Hygiene, Facilities and Furniture, Education and Sponsorship, Extracurricular Activities, Accountability and Sustainability, and Rights and Gender. The seven programmes have been in place for a number of years now, and are thus firmly established and well defined.
The Food and Nutrition Programme remains the lead programme in Kenya. The programme currently focuses on breakfast providing around 2000 school children each day with a filling and nutrition morning meal of Uji. The impact of the programme continues to be huge with children no longer required to sit through lessons while their stomachs’ rumble, and receiving an important source of essential vitamins and minerals.
The work of the charity in Kenya has proven its value, and with Mr Kimongo at the helm of operations in Kenya, the programmes will continue to operate effectively for many years to come. The charity is fortunate to have him as part of the team.
Figure 5: Uji served at Excel school during the school morning
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
Excel is well settled into its new location. The new location and facilities have solved several problems, not just the issue of the sewage drain at the entrance of the old school. The new location is more open with more space for school events and activities, and the buildings are stronger and in better condition. The new buildings has enabled the school to set up the science laboratories that the new curriculum requires. The school was forced to move by local authorities, and while it seemed unfair and difficult at the time, it has proved to be the best thing that could have happened.
Compassion, also known as Greener Life School, moved to a new location this past year. The school had struggled in the church grounds ever since a new minister took charge. Unlike, previous leadership which supported the school, he seemed to want the school off the premises although it was never clear exactly why. Despite numerous meetings attempting to reconcile the school’s needs with the new minister’s goals, no agreement was ever reached, so the school was forced to look for alternative facilities. The school started by building some small rooms outside the church but these were too small to meet the school needs as well as being dark and poorly constructed. When the current location came free, the head of the school jump at the chance to rent the property for the school. The school is doing extremely well in this new location.
Lizpal has also moved to a new location, although very close to where it was located before. The slum where Lizpal is based is slowly being sold off to developers. It is adjacent to a developing area hungry for new flats and facilities, so it is likely that it will eventually disappear as developers buy up the land and its residents will be forced to relocate elsewhere. Whether it will take a year or five years for the slum residents to be forced out no one can know, but the evidence is clear that it is just a matter of time. The land where Lizpal was located has been sold off, and so it moved to new premises nearby. The question is how long will it be before the land where Lizapl now is, will be sold off.
Figure 6: New location of Compassion School
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
4 Ukraine
Tragically, the war in Ukraine continues with no end in sight at present. Hopefully, Ukraine will see peace in the near future, but in the meantime, the charity needs to adapt to work within the constraints that the war brings.
Despite the continuous and widespread attacks by russia on infrastructure, electricity supplies, and homes, people have adapted finding solutions to live with the onslaught from the aggressor. For example, warning systems with alarms sounding through phones work well giving people notice to head towards safe shelters, and most establishments now have generators for when the national electrical system is unable to supply them.
The initial plan was to set up a branch of Porridge and Rice in Kenya, but after discovering Orphans Future Ukraine, this has been shelved. Orphans Future Ukraine is a well-established local charity founded and run by former orphans. It has strong local connections, all its members are Ukrainian, and a proven track record. Most importantly, it shares the goals of Porridge and Rice to support disadvantaged children, and is happy to collaborate.
Figure 7: Orphans join ladies making Vareniky for soldiers on the front line in Ukraine
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
In the early days of the war, the charity provided support to cope with the consequences of the russian attacks. For example, the charity provided power supplies and rechargeable torches to all orphans. In addition, it provided food that did not need cooking and warm clothing. The focus was to enable orphans in institutions to cope with the consequences of the enemy’s attacks on their country.
Porridge and Rice works with orphans in institutions in the West of Ukraine, the two largest of which are the Ternopil Orphanage and the Berezhany Ilium in the Ternopil Oblast. While most of the orphans that are supported come from these two institutions, the charity does support some orphans from other parts of Western Ukraine, although at this stage there are fewer of them.
The work of the charity started with orphans in institutions as this is where the need appeared to be the greatest. With the war, the government has been forced to prioritise spending on defending the country so all services, including those for orphans, have suffered. The charity established a programme named the Forward programme, the name chosen to capture the idea that the charity wishes to see the children progress or go forward to develop a happy and stable future in society. Under the Forward programme, the charity has provided clothing, hygiene supplies, pocket money, medical support, educational support, and recreation from trips to Lviv and a plastic swimming pool. The charity has tried to provide a mixture of essential resources to the orphaned children as well as extras like pocket money. The pocket money programme has proved to be particularly successful with orphans as it has empowered them to do participate in activities that most children in families take for granted like stopping at a shop to buy an ice cream or buy a flower for someone they fancy.
Figure 8: Orphans with their St Nicholas shopping
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
The charity then expanded its work to support orphans transitioning from their institutions to ordinary life whether it is choosing a kettle to finding a university place. The charity has helped students find places in tertiary institutions and make a successful. For example, the charity takes each leaving orphan for a grocery shop to purchase basic supplies like sugar, along with long lasting supplies like pasta and rice. This both helps them understand how to shop wisely and gives them a head start. This work fits well with the initial work of the charity, now supporting orphans from institutions to ordinary life, providing continuity of support, something that is lacking in Ukraine.
Before the war, the government strategy was to encourage the adoption of orphans to families inside and outside the country. Large numbers of Ukrainian orphans have been adopted by US families and are growing up in the US as US citizens. The war put an end to this approach and switched to increasing and expanding foster families. The current goal is to greatly reduce the number of orphans in institutional care and have them instead grow up in foster families. In the last two years, large numbers of orphans have been moved into foster families with family sizes regularly in double figures. While the majority of foster parents appear to be sincerely committed to doing the best for the children in their care, the size of the families presents real challenges.
In addition, the financial support provided to foster families is low limiting what families can provide. Budgeting is a real challenge for these families, and many, if not all, can be described as poor. Both limited finances and large family sizes present considerable challenges to foster families with orphans. Orphans Future Ukraine, the Porridge and Rice partner organisation, already works with orphans in institutions, transitioning to ordinary life, and foster families. Porridge and Rice is considering doing the same.
Figure 9: Orphans at Dobre Pizza for lunch
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
5 Legal and Administrative Details
Porridge and Rice is registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Its registered address is 64 Rydal Gardens, Hounslow, TW3 2JH, its registration number is 1155841, and it is governed by a constitution lodged with the Charity Commission. Porridge and Rice has registered Uji na Mchele with the Charity Commission as an alternative name, and the acronyms PaR and UnM for English and KiSwahili use respectively.
Porridge and Rice owns the domains www.porridgeandrice.co.uk and www.porridgeandrice.com. The latter is automatically directed to the former, and the charity’s website is located at the former. The website is hosted by 123 webhosting. Porridge and Rice is represented on Facebook under the name of Porridge and Rice. The Facebook page is intermittently updated to reflect events of interest about the charity. Porridge and Rice is also active on Instagram with periodic updates.
Porridge and Rice has a UK bank account with Barclays Bank and a Kenyan Bank account with Standard Chartered. The UK Barclays account number is 23708926, sort code 20-42-73, IBAN GB09 BARC 2042 7323 7089 26, SWIFTBIC BARCGB22, and address Barclays Bank Plc 210 High Street Hounslow Middlesex TW3 1DL. The Kenyan bank account is number 01-00334054600 at Standard Chartered Bank Building, Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya, and swift code SCBLKENXXXX.
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Figure 10: Children at Lizpal enjoy a hot cup of Uji
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
6 Governance and management
In the UK, Porridge and Rice is run by four trustees, chaired by Ken Surridge. Trustees are appointed for a term of 2 years and registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The names of the trustees of the charity can be viewed by the public on their website. Trustees are all volunteers.
The current trustees of the charity are in alphabetical order
-
Brigitte Pickersgill
-
Jude Hanlon
-
Ken Surridge (chair)
-
Vish Arora
Porridge and Rice welcomes people who wish to volunteer with the charity, and volunteers are invited to participate in relevant events. The charity occasionally hires people to assist with tasks like sorting books.
Figure 11: Taking orphans for an afternoon at the local water park
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
7 Operational review
In Kenya, Porridge and Rice is partnered with five community schools, Excel Emmanuel in Ngando, Lizpal in Ngando, Heri Junior in Mithonge, Compassion in Githingoro, and Forrester in Kawangware.
The charity programmes remain established, and continue. The Kenyan Leadership team is made up of the head and deputy head of each school. The leadership team in Kenya is in alphabetical order of school –
Evanson Njeru (Compassion School); Priscillah Mmugoh (Compassion School); Titus Kimongo (Excel Emmanuel School); Mary Kinyanjui (Excel Emmanuel School); Rispa Auma (Forrester School); Pascal Otieno (Forrester School); Ruth Mbithe (Heri Junior School); Haggai Panyako (Heri Junior School); Beth Wambugu (Lizpal School); Grace Mwangi (Lizpal School).
In Ukraine, Porridge and Rice is partnered by Orphans’ Future Ukraine. The charity shares the same values and goals, and is well-established with strong local contacts, so it is more effective to partner with them than set up an independent charity as originally planned. The focus is on orphans.
Figure 12: Science lesson outdoors at Excel school
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
8 Financial Review
Income for Porridge and Rice has yet to return to pre-COVID levels mainly because the charity has stopped doing public and school fairs. These fairs used to raise a significant portion of the charity’s income.
The charity is looking at new ways to raise money, ways which require low levels of staffing while keeping costs low. It is testing a range of ideas which it will implement over time and evaluate. The goal is to build income streams that require staffing levels.
At present, the charity is exploring ways of increasing the number of people who make monthly contributions by standing orders, co-operating with businesses that raise money for charities, and events like raffles.
Figure 13 : Orphans preparing dinner at the Orphans Future retreat
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
9 Accounts for 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024
These accounts were prepared on a receipts and payments basis using an exchange rate of KES153.26 to £1.
| Receipts | GBP | |
|---|---|---|
| Balance Year End 2023 | 4,824.41 | 4,824.41 |
| Amazon | 316.38 | 316.38 |
| Donations | 17,454.75 | 17,454.75 |
| Gift Aid | 846.62 | 846.62 |
| WOB | 179.44 | 179.44 |
| StandingOrders | 1 | 1,963.00 |
| Total Receipts | 25,584.60 | |
| Payments | GBP | |
| Finance Charges | 219.31 | 219.31 |
| Travel | 2,092.39 | 2,092.39 |
| Website | 229.98 | 229.98 |
| Wages | 1,380.00 | 1,380.00 |
| Equipment | 848.59 | 848.59 |
| Admin | 606.80 | 606.80 |
| Kenya | ||
| Education and Sponsorship, Kenya | - | - |
| Facilities and Furniture, Kenya | 184.82 | 184.82 |
| Health and Hygiene, Kenya | 154.16 | 154.16 |
| Rights and Gender, Kenya | - | - |
| Extracurricular Activities, Kenya | - | - |
| Sustainability and Accountability, Kenya | - | - |
| Feeding and Nutrition, Kenya | 5,932.09 | 5,932.09 |
| Ukraine | ||
| Provisions | 1,912.68 | 1,912.68 |
| Essentials | 5,619.38 | 5,619.38 |
| Support | 936.89 | 936.89 |
| Forward | 1 | 1,910.78 |
| Total Payments | 22,027.87 | |
| Balance Total | 3,556.73 |
The annual report including accounts were approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf
Ken Surridge (chair) Judith Hanlon (trustee) Date: 18 September 2025 Date: 18 September 2025 Page 15
Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
Figure 14: Orphans attending art classes in Ternopil
Figure 15: Andriy Nazarenko of Orphans’ Future talking to orphans about the Forward Programme
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2024
Figure 16: On a trip to Kyiv to take an orphan to his new university
Figure 17: Andriy of Orphans Future talking to orphans about the Forward Programme
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