Mary's Meals in Nairobi, Kenya

An extended drought in Kenya has caused dire food shortages. According to the UN World Food Programme, which launched an appeal this week, as many as one in 10 people are in desperate need of help, with the elderly and children at particular risk Photograph: Chris Leslie

Mary's Meals is one of the charities that runs school feeding programmes in Kenya. It believes that a mug of maize-based, vitamin-enriched porridge provides the nutrition a child needs to be healthy and an incentive for them to go to school, in the long term offering a simple route out of poverty Photograph: Chris Leslie

One of the schools Mary's Meals works in is Njenga primary in the Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi. The school feeding programme there can continue throughout the crisis because a nearby borehole provides safe water for drinking and cooking Photograph: Chris Leslie

There are 2,113 children at Njenga primary school, which means a lot of porridge needs to be prepared. The cooking and day-to-day management of the project are done by a team of volunteers, including some of the pupils' parents and grandparents Photograph: Chris Leslie

Porridge is served in a mug Photograph: Chris Leslie

School kitchens usually close down during the holidays, but this year the government has kept schools open, and asked non-governmental organisations such as Mary’s Meals to continue their feeding programmes – because for many children the food they get in school is becoming their only dependable source of nutrition Photograph: Chris Leslie

Sometimes the best way to eat and play is to do both at once Photograph: Chris Leslie

Many parts of Kenya have experienced three or more failed rainy seasons, and the UN believes this is the start of a crisis that could become a lot worse without international support. 'Life has never been easy for the poor in Kenya,' said Bukard Oberle, the World Food Programme's country director in Kenya, 'but right now conditions are more desperate than they have been for a decade. Red lights are flashing across the country' Photograph: Chris Leslie

Mary's Meals also runs other programmes to remove barriers to education. Its Backpack Project encourages children in the UK to donate their old schoolbags and fill them with equipment such as notebooks, pencils and a spoon – small gifts that make the school day in Kenya more practical Photograph: Chris Leslie

Despite its location in one of Nairobi's most notorious slums, Njenga primary school has some of the best exam results in the country. Teachers credit this to the regular supply of nutritious food, which they say aids concentration and gives children a reason to keep coming back Photograph: Chris Leslie

Schoolgirls enjoy their Mary's Meal Photograph: Chris Leslie