Malawi Cyclone Freddy
Our response in Malawi
Cyclone Freddy – thought to be the longest lasting tropical storm on record – has ripped through Malawi, causing devastation for many of the children who eat Mary’s Meals.
Entire communities have been swept away by raging waters and buried under landslides. More than 400 people have died – a figure that is expected to rise in the coming weeks.
While schools in affected areas are closed, the classrooms that haven’t been destroyed by the storm are being used as shelters for the many thousands of people who have lost their homes.
As well as providing food for the children who usually eat our school meals, Mary’s Meals is ensuring wider families also receive a daily meal in these shelters. Our mugs of likuni phala – a porridge fortified with essential vitamins and minerals – will be a familiar source of comfort to many children affected by this tragedy.
Through our emergency response, we are already reaching more than 24,000 displaced people every day and we are closely monitoring the situation to determine how we can help further as the situation evolves.
Those children, their families, the loving volunteers who prepare our meals, and our courageous colleagues are in our thoughts and prayers at this terrible time.
Please donate today to support our work in Malawi.
Mary's Meals in Malawi
Mary’s Meals has been serving school meals in Malawi since 2002, where we began our work by feeding just 200 children.
We feed more than one million children every school day with the support of tens of thousands of volunteers from local communities across the country, who prepare and serve the nutritious meals.
The majority of schools receiving Mary’s Meals are in the Southern region, with large numbers also supported in both the Central and Northern regions of Malawi. We also reach pre-school age children in nurseries, who are most vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition. We operate out of Blantyre in southern Malawi, and have more than 100 employees who manage, deliver and monitor our programme.
