Malaika Kitchen Presentation

 

Malaika Kitchens addresses a fundamental barrier to education in rural Kenya: many children attend school without access to regular, nutritious meals, which directly affects attendance, concentration, and learning outcomes. They fund, construct and support school kitchens, train local cooks, and source food locally. This approach strengthens not only the learning environment for students but also supports local families and rural economies. Each kitchen is designed to operate sustainably, with ongoing costs covered through small weekly contributions from parents, ensuring long-term continuity and local ownership. As of 2026, Malaika has built 12 school kitchens, providing over 4,000 meals daily, with more than 25 additional schools preparing to join the program.

 

In 2022 Malaika was founded by Marius Wirtz while working in Kenyan agriculture, before his Engineering degree at ETH Zurich. During his current and final year as a master’s student he is also working as a project manager at Glencore Nordenham in Germany on expanding silver production.

In 2024 he introduced David Schauer to Malaika’s work, who, since joining Brown University as a visiting scholar in 2024, became an ambassador for its mission in the US while now pursuing a PhD at Columbia University. David is also a member of our beloved Rotary Club #6 in NY.

 

Malaika’s backbone is our local team of seven headed by Executive Director Purity Gakuo. Daily school visits, training and mentoring sessions, community engagement and local stakeholder involvement are but a few pillars of Malaika’s sustainable approach to creating lasting impact. In January 2026 Malaika was selected as a partner by the Rockefeller Foundation to explore more climate smart kitchen solutions, further digitize our payment and accounting systems, and pilot in semi-arid regions of Kenya within a grant of 130kUSD.