The Magbenteh Community Boarding School, which is located between the villages of Mathinka and Magbenteh in Bombali District was opened in October 2016 by the Swiss-Sierra Leone Development Foundation (SSLDF).

With a current capacity of 200 students, the children were identified from the most deprived surrounding villages including those left orphaned by Ebola. This opportunity for education is vital for both the children residing there who had been unable to attend school for the past 2 years as well as their guardians.

An evident need has been for a feeding programme to be implemented at Magbenteh Community Boarding School. Children have been coming to school with empty stomachs which has not been conducive to learning and therefore the level of education ingrained.

In a country with a chronic malnutrition rate of 30% for children under 5 in 2014, according to the World Food Programme, many of the children attending the school are malnourished, only eating once per day and executing domestic work both prior and after school.

A specific focus will be on the nutritional aspect in regards to the quality of ingredients used in the meals provided to the children by SSLDF, ensuring vitamins, fat, calcium and protein, in particular, are incorporated into the diet. This will, without a doubt, improve the overall learning performance in the school, and increase the physical and mental well-being of the children.

Aurora Foundation supports the school feeding programme of Magbenteh Community Boarding School by providing meals for the children three days per week until July 2018. Another organization has already supported the school feeding programme for two days a week, hence the children will not get meals every day of the week they attend school.