Education is one of the most invaluable resources available to mankind. As a high school teacher, I often see students take for granted the opportunities offered to them by denying themselves the benefits of a free education.

In the summer of 2005, while traveling through east Africa, I witnessed the opposite side of this spectrum. I witnessed school children in Arusha Tanzania valuing and desiring education so much that they would endure eight or more hours of hunger to attain it.

Like many developing countries, government-funded schools are unable to provide students with lunch. Unlike America, where students receive free or reduced-cost lunch, having a meal during the school day wasn't attainable for school children living in poverty. It was astonishing to see the discipline and drive of young children who, from elementary to high school age, go without food for so long during the day, yet attend school on a regular basis. They would walk miles to school, perform morning chores on the school grounds and then attend to their classes. When it was over, they would walk those laborious miles home, all the while not have eaten anything all day.

In the fall of 2005, I established The Halo Project, under the umbrella of Sister Cities Organization-Durham Chapter, to create lunch programs for schools in developing countries that will help sustain education by increasing enrollment rates, and improve student nutrition.

Though the children held their determination for education, a high increase in dropout rates in the secondary schools, severe malnutrition among orphaned and HIV/AIDS children, teen delinquency keep the education standards in the community falling hard and fast. Providing meals to students during the school hours was a simple solution to a growing problem. In the spring of 2008, over 280,000 dehydrated rice based meals were shipped to the city of Arusha, Tanzanian to establish their first lunch program for all 17 government-funded schools in the district.

This summer I, along with two graduate students from NCCU Department of Education, traveled to Arusha to assess the progress of the food program and teach in the secondary schools. The result on the food program was astonishing.

According to the municipal government, enrollment increased collectively among the 17 district schools by 85 percent and truancy rates dropped by 15 percent. For three to six months, more than 19,000 students were able to focus better on their studies and performed better in the classroom. Headmasters and teachers told me that students who were given packages to take with them home used the food to feed their families for weeks.

The gratitude and hope in the faces of the children and parents were clearly expressed once it was explained to me the name given to the food by the students across the district. According to one student, they called it Obama rice, "because we knew it came from America and we believe it was sent to give us hope and make us believe that we can make it through whatever we worked hard for."

Everywhere we went, every school we visited, and every child we spoke to; we were told the story of what their lives were before the "Obama rice" came to their schools, and how their lives have changed since. It's no surprise that African's, particularly from the eastern part of Africa, ethnically identify themselves with President Barack Obama. Throughout the city of Arusha; cars, fences, homes, and even fabric pieces were adorned with his face and campaign motto of "Yes We Can." To them, he is still their hero and role model for their children. The food gave them hope and a chance to believe in themselves, again. This is why they coined the rice with this name.

I was honored to see how this food program has improved the lives of children. As a teacher, knowing the value of education could continue to exist in these children's lives was a dream fulfilled. Today the Halo Project continues to work with other organizations in establishing school lunch programs in East Africa.