Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
Porridge and Rice Annual Report Registered Charity Number 1155841 Trustees’ report and accounts For the year to 30 September 2025
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
| 1 | Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 3 |
|---|---|
| 2 | The UK ......................................................................................................................................... 4 |
| 3 | Kenya ........................................................................................................................................... 5 |
| 4 | Legal and Administrative Details................................................................................................. 7 |
| 5 | Governance and management ...................................................................................................... 8 |
| 6 | Operational review ....................................................................................................................... 9 |
| 7 | Financial Review ........................................................................................................................ 10 |
| 8 | Accounts for 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025 ................................................................. 11 |
Figure 1: A trip to Lviv, Ukraine with Andriy and Berezhany orphans
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
1 Introduction
Poverty persists in Africa and war persists in Ukraine. The needs remain great. The primary focus of Porridge and Rice continues to be to provide support for disadvantaged children, school children in the Nairobi slums of Kenya and orphans growing up without the benefit of parental care in Ukraine.
In Kenya, the charity leads with its Feeding Programme, providing meals to around 2000 children each school day. The dates back to an early conversation before the founding of the charity, when a small group of students visiting schools in the Kenyan slums asked what they needed most, and were told simply “children come to school hungry each day”. The programme has proved its worth year after year.
In Ukraine, the charity focuses on orphans, both those whose parents are deceased and those who are alienated from their parents, working with its partner charity Orphans’ Future. With the war, normal life is disrupted for everyone, but orphans in particular have a very difficult time as they are not a high priority for a country fighting to remain free.
The charity continues to look for new sources of funding. It is planning a Bridge event known as Café Bridge which it hopes will run regularly raising money each time for the charity. There will not be a return to the events pre-COVID, as the charity does not have the manpower to staff them.
Figure 2: Uji is served for breakfast for the children at Compassion School in Githogoro, Nairobi
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
2 The UK
Porridge and Rice relies on the UK for its funding. In the past, the focus was on attending public events and school fairs selling goods and petting fairs. This is no longer the case with the current focus on standing orders and less labour intense events. Several options are in the works.
The charity is planning a Bridge event in Twickenham around Church Street called Café Bridge in October 2025. The event will run from 10am to 4pm with a break for lunch around 1pm. People will move from restaurant to restaurant every half an hour from 11am playing a number of Bridge hands in each restaurant. Tickets will be sold to participate. In addition, a raffle will also be run at the event to add to the funds raised from ticket sales. If this event is successful, the plan is to run a Spring and Summer event. Plans are complete and tickets sales have been good. All that remains is for the event to take place.
Other ideas are being considered like independent raffles. The goal is to find large prizes to attract a large number of participants. These ideas are in the early stages of development as the current focus is on making the Café Bridge event successful.
Similarly, there are plans to increase the number of standing order to provide a steady stream of income for the charity. Monthly amounts, no matter how small are extremely valuable as they provide the charity with a predictable income.
Figure 3: Breakfast treat for Orphans at McDonalds in Ternopil, Ukraine
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
3 Kenya
While it is important that children are not hungry, the feeding programme is about much more than fighting hunger.
A lack of food and poor nutrition leads to stunting in children during a critical time for their development. In Kenya, poverty and droughts are major causes of stunting in children with long terms impacts on their physical health, cognitive development, and long-term economic productivity. Stunting affects at least 18% of children under five in Kenya and causes lifelong cognitive deficits such as lower reasoning ability and impaired fluency.
Hunger and nutritional deficiencies stunt brain growth causing delayed mental development and reduced intellectual capacity. This not only leads to poor school performance in the short term but severely reduces that capabilities of the children for their entire lives. In addition, undernourishment has serious consequences for health development such as weakened immune systems, and stunted individuals face an increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes or hypertension in adult life.
The impacts of chronic undernourishment are largely irreversible with affected children permanently failing to reach their full potential. Health and cognitive deficits directly translate to lower earning potential and reduced economic productivity in adulthood. The UN estimates that child stunting costs the Kenyan economy billions annually, approximately roughly $4.2 billion USD each year while being a drain on very limited public resources like hospitals.
The Food and Nutrition Programme thus not only makes learning a more pleasant experience as it eliminates rumbling stomachs, but it has long term benefits for the children into adulthood and the country of Kenya. It thus remains a high priority for Porridge and Rice.
Figure 4: Children enjoying breakfast at Lizpal School in the Ngando slum of Nairobi, Kenya
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
The war in Ukraine is now in its fourth year, and there appears to be no end in sight. The country continues to fight bravely to remain free and align itself with the West rather than become a russian vassal. The war has placed considerable strain on Ukrainian society and the public purse. Support from other countries has certainly helped but the demands are far greater than other countries can support.
Porridge and Rice collaborates with a local charity run by Ukrainians, a charity called Orphans Future Ukraine. The charity was established and is run by a man who was an orphan himself when Ukraine was part of the USSR. He not only understands what it means to be an orphan but has built up considerable goodwill in important sectors of Ukrainian society over the 20 years for which it has existed.
The goal of Orphans’ Future Ukraine is to support orphans especially as they transition from institutional to independent life. This involves are wide range of activities such as providing training on budgeting to writing university applications. Porridge and Rice provides support at various levels, both in terms of manpower and finances. The charity also supports an ongoing programme that tries to make life as normal as possible with simple things like weekly pocket money and paying for dental care. The needs of each orphan are different so the charity has to be flexible in its approach.
The charity remains committed to supporting Ukrainian Orphans.
Figure 5: Lunch with orphans at Fino Misto in Ternopil, Ukraine
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
4 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.
Figure 6: Smiles like these at Compassion School in Githogoro, Nairobi make the work of the charity worthwhile
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
5 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 7: Meeting with orphans in Berezhany, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine.
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
6 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 8: Lesson outdoors at Excel school in the Ngando slum of Nairobi, Kenya
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
7 Financial Review
Porridge and Rice continues to look for new ways of raising money to fund its work. While there are signs that income is increasing, the charity’s funds still have a long way to reach pre-COVID levels.
Monthly standing orders remain a long term strategy, but with small monthly amounts, it will take considerable time for these to reach the charity’s financial goals.
There are a number of fundraising activities being planned with the first ready to take place in October 2025, Church Street Café Bridge in Twickenham. It is hoped that once this event becomes established, it will raise upwards of £3,000 a year for the charity.
Figure 9 : An afternoon boat trip on the Ternopil Lake.
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
8 Accounts for 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025
These accounts were prepared on a receipts and payments basis using an exchange rate of KES149.57 to £1.
| Receipts | GBP | |
|---|---|---|
| Balance Year End | 2024 | 3,556.73 |
| Donations | 15,783.40 | |
| Gift Aid | 672.20 | |
| WOB | 57.93 | |
| Café Bridge | 2,566.65 | |
| StandingOrders | 3,550.00 | |
| Total Receipts | 26,186.91 | |
| Payments | GBP | |
| Finance Charges | 332.89 | |
| Travel | 2,080.33 | |
| Website | 635.14 | |
| Wages | - | |
| Equipment | 353.68 | |
| Admin | 249.70 | |
| Kenya | ||
| Education and Sponsorship, Kenya | - | |
| Facilities and Furniture, Kenya | 641.86 | |
| Health and Hygiene, Kenya | 174.25 | |
| Rights and Gender, Kenya | - | |
| Extracurricular Activities, Kenya | 106.98 | |
| Sustainability and Accountability, Kenya | - | |
| Feeding and Nutrition, Kenya | 5,823.51 | |
| Ukraine | ||
| Provisions | 2,345.54 | |
| Essentials | 3,765.35 | |
| Support | 1,025.70 | |
| Forward | 4,870.80 | |
| Total Payments | 22,405.72 | |
| Balance Total | 3,781.19 |
The annual report including accounts were approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf
Ken Surridge (chair) Judith Hanlon (trustee) Date: 9 July 2026 Date: 9 July 2026
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
Figure 10: Training sessions for the orphans at the charity house in Ternopil
Figure 11: Buying groceries with Zoriana before the orphans arrive at the charity house
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Porridge and Rice (Uji na Mchele) Trustee Annual Report 2025
Figure 12: Ready for some exercise at Compassion School in Gitogroro, Nairobi.
Figure 13: Get ready for lessons at Lizpal School in Ngando in the Nairobi slums
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