Fuelling Rubina’s future
A daily school meal is helping 11-year-old Rubina rewrite her story
Published onRubina is 11 years old and one of seven children from a family that has faced many challenges. Born near Kolkata in India, her father struggled to find work, and financial hardship caused frequent tension at home. At one point, only one of Rubina's siblings – a brother – was attending school, but he had to drop out to help support the family. Eventually, they moved to Delhi, hoping for better opportunities.
When Rubina and her brother enrolled at a school in the slum area of Bhalswa Dairy, it was because their family had heard that Mary’s Meals are served there. The promise of a nutritious daily meal became a powerful reason to send the children to school.
The school’s main building sits behind a massive rubbish dump where many local families, including children, work as rag pickers. In addition to this main building, the school runs several informal classrooms scattered across the slum. Meals prepared at the main school are delivered by motorbike to these makeshift classrooms.
Today, Rubina is thriving. Thanks to her daily school meal, she now loves learning, writing in Hindi and she enjoys drawing and colouring. The young girl dreams of becoming a police officer and is filled with hope for a brighter future. She credits the meals she receives with helping her stay focused in class.
Although neither of her parents received an education, they fully support Rubina's ambitions. She says: “They want me to achieve something in life and get a good job.”
In slum communities like Bhalswa Dairy, children – particularly girls – often face pressure to drop out of school. Early marriage, child labour and the harsh realities of poverty push many out of the classroom. But Rubina is determined to stay in school. She says: “I don’t work. I go to school.”
Thanks to the promise of a daily school meal, children and girls like Rubina can stay in the classroom, focus on their studies and dream bigger.
With Mary’s Meals Deals, you can help keep this hope alive for children, like Rubina, living in some of the world’s poorest communities. For the cost of a £4 supermarket meal deal, you can help provide a nutritious school meal to 40 hungry children – encouraging them into the classroom, where education can be their ladder out of poverty.
A typical supermarket deal gives you a sandwich, snack and drink. But Mary’s Meals Deals offers so much more: school, food and hope to children in some of the world's poorest communities.
Change lives over lunch: donate £4 today and help us reach more hungry children
Or could you swap a meal deal a month to set up a regular donation to Mary’s Meals of just £4?
Regular gifts help us keep our long-term commitment to children, like Rubina, who eat Mary's Meals – and they help us plan for the future too. And this year, thanks to a generous donor, every new regular gift to Mary’s Meals will be matched for the first two payments, up to a value of £250,000 – meaning you can make your kindness go even further! Set up a regular donation today.
