Daily food for a different future

My name is Lettie and this is my story. It is no exaggeration to say that the joyful life I live today was built on the food that Mary’s Meals served at my school in Malawi.

In 2010, I was nine years old. My parents had both died and I’d dropped out of school to take care of my little brothers, Patrick and Anderson. When I think back to this awful time, I remember how hungry my brothers and I were, day after day. Anderson was only one year and nine months old when our Mum died. With no one to provide for us or protect us, he was malnourished and getting sick every month. I worried about him all the time. 

Some days we went without food. Some nights we lay awake not knowing what we’d eat the next day. 

I took on small, local housekeeping jobs to be paid in cash or food, but truly there was so little I could do to stop our poverty. There was so much responsibility on my young shoulders. Life became about survival and I was losing hope. 

As a little boy, Anderson didn’t understand that I was his sister because I did everything for him – as a mother would. When he was older, I had to explain that I was not his mum and that she had died. He started crying, feeling so much loss in that moment.

Everything changed when we met Mary’s Meals. 

At our nearby primary school, Mary’s Meals community volunteers were serving daily porridge. With every nutritious mug, the joy that hunger stole from our lives started returning. Anderson grew stronger and healthier, gaining the energy to go to school, which meant I could go back to class too. With a daily school meal, every 
aspect of our life quickly became easier and more stable. Mary’s Meals was (and still is) so much more than a school feeding programme. It was the reason we made it through each day. The reason we had the strength to learn and to dream. And in school, I felt like a child again. Every morning, I would eat and laugh with my friends. A piece of my childhood returned, after all those years of sadness and hunger.

Completing my standard 8 exams at the end of primary school should have been a happy achievement, but for me it brought worry. Secondary school came with fees, and I had no one to pay them. Hoping that a solution would come, I applied and got in. But hope was not enough on this occasion, and I was forced to turn down my place and return to local domestic work. It broke my heart when my friends headed off to school without me. 

Raising the family on my own was so hard and I longed for some support. When I met a boyfriend, I thought a relationship would be the answer. And that finally, I would have help. This is when I became pregnant with my son, Philip.

At 16 – a mother to my brother and now my beautiful boy – life took another unexpected turn. I was offered a place to study at Jacaranda, a school for children who are orphaned or in vulnerable circumstances. As I walked in, I saw them: Mary’s Meals volunteers. Dedicated members of our local community who would wake early to come and cook for Jacaranda’s children. The daily food they offered chased away my hunger and let me concentrate in class. 

Mary’s Meals didn’t let me fall through the cracks. They gave me the courage to go back to school, to keep fighting. Against all odds, I completed my secondary education. It was then that I knew my future would hold career and study opportunities that would change my family’s life.

I have not forgotten that when we had nothing, we received kindness from others. So, it is very important to me that we share and give back, as a family.

I must use my voice to raise awareness of the importance of daily meals in schools. Especially for girls, who are so often called to raise and feed their younger siblings. I also feel proud to tell you that today, more than 1.3 million children in Malawi are eating Mary’s Meals. But, despite all our efforts and your kindness, there are still so many children experiencing the pain of hunger, just as I did. That is why your support matters. Because we must keep doing what we’re doing and do much more of it.

Now I work for Mary’s Meals, I get to relive the joy of my school days. The smell of cooking porridge floating in the morning air. The cheerful chatter of the volunteers who prepare it. I see the children excitedly queuing for their food, just as my friends and I did. It’s a beautiful sight. This is what you are funding.

As the Mary’s Meals family, we cannot stand by and see children suffering. We must act with love in our hearts and give to children who need a better start in life. I write to you today not as Lettie, but as a testament to what love and kindness can do. 

School meals fuel children to build the future they want. When these children flourish, so do their communities. It costs £19.15 to feed a child in a place of education for a whole school year. 

Thank you so much for your support. You’ve helped us fill children’s mugs with porridge and opportunity. Ready to learn, these children will build a brighter future. 

Thank you for reading my story.