Volunteer Stories, Films & Inspiring Case Studies
Films
Love Reaches Everywhere
Follow Hollywood actor Gerard Butler’s heartwarming adventure as he travels to Liberia and Haiti with Mary’s Meals’ founder, Magnus.
Child 31
Experience the power of a daily meal as our founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow visits some of the communities where Mary’s Meals are served.
Generation Hope
A snapshot of a new generation who, having enjoyed Mary’s Meals as children, are building a brighter future for their communities.
Volunteer Hub
Case studies
Jubaida and Jainab, India
Nine-year-old twins Jubaida and Jainab live in Bhalswa Dairy, Delhi, where much of the city’s waste is dumped. Their father drives a rickshaw, and their mother picks through rubbish to sell what she can. After school, the girls help her, risking injury as they work among the debris.
Yet amidst this harsh reality, Mary’s Meals brings hope. At school, the twins receive a daily meal, often their only food of the day. Jubaida explains that the food helps her concentrate in class and gives her energy to dance.
For Jubaida and Jainab, school meals do more than fill their stomachs—they offer hope, strength, and the simple joy of childhood in a world that is otherwise very challenging.
After lessons, the twins join a dance class, where they can simply be children, laughing and moving to the music.
Mohamad, Lebanon
Twelve-year-old Mohamad is from Batroun, Lebanon. Life at home is difficult for Mohamad and his family. He often goes to school without breakfast, making it hard to focus and learn.
A daily school meal, provided by Mary’s Meals though our partner in Lebanon, Dorcas, has transformed Mohamad’s life.
He says: “When I eat, I feel stronger… maybe I can be a teacher or a doctor one day.”
Our school feeding programme is a source of hope for Mohamad. It inspires him to keep studying and think about his future. He says Mary’s Meals gives him the strength to keep going and the belief that he can overcome obstacles and make a positive difference in in his community.
Bernadette, Malawi
Bernadette, from Malawi, is a teacher – but her path to educating the next generation was not an easy one. In 2008, she was struggling to focus at school because of hunger. She began to feel that education was pointless.
When Mary’s Meals’s started providing daily school meals everything changed. “With the arrival of Mary’s Meals, things changed for the better. Our minds were free to concentrate on our studies,” she recalls.
With a renewed determination to continue learning thanks to the promise of a daily school meal, Bernadette walked two hours each way to school for four years. With regular meals, her grades improved dramatically, enabling her to complete her primary education and attend secondary school.
Today, she is a teacher at the same school where she ate Mary’s Meals, working alongside teachers who once taught her.
Bernadette credits Mary’s Meals for transforming her life: “If it wasn’t for Mary’s Meals, I would not be here now… I truly emerged from poverty.”