‘Uncle Mary’s Meals’
Konah shares his journey and daily responsibilities as a School Feeding Officer in Liberia
Konah Williams joined Mary’s Meals as a School Feeding Officer (SFO) in Liberia in June 2018.
He was already familiar with our work, having witnessed firsthand the incredible impact our meals were having at the school nearby to his village in his home county of Bomi, where we’ve been serving meals to hungry children since 2006. Seeing the children’s lives transformed inspired him to become part of our mission and help Mary’s Meals reach even more hungry children.
He shares: “I could see the children smiling and so I decided that one day I would have the opportunity to work for this organisation. And surely, I am happy today I am working for Mary’s Meals!”
After four years of admiring our work from afar, Konah finally joined the Mary’s Meals team in Liberia in 2018. Thankfully, the role lived up to everything he had hoped for.
Konah has become a beloved figure in the communities he serves. The children are always excited to see him arrive on his motorbike.
Konah continues: “My name is Konah, but they just call me ‘Mary’s Meals’! I’m always happy to hear that, when I pass any community, you will hear ‘Mary’s Meals, Mary’s Meals, Mary’s Meals!”
We caught up with Konah to hear more about his role in Liberia…
Q: What are the responsibilities of a School Feeding Officer?
A: As a School Feeding Officer, we have several responsibilities. Our main role involves regular visits to schools to engage with community leaders, school authorities and the children to ensure the right quantity of food is provided each day, and that the facilities meet the required standards.
We make sure that safeguarding is communicated every day. We hold discussions with community leaders and school staff and deliver training as well.
We also ensure that enrolment and attendance is accurately recorded, and we update the stock book accurately to make sure that the right quantity of food is delivered.
Q: What are the benefits of School Feeding Officers being embedded in the community?
A: It’s a good thing because it reduces the amount of travel time (and gasoline) that needs to be used. You get to know the community and the people you work with and their culture. A lot of those people might have jobs during the day or need to take care of their farm. Living and working in the community means you can engage with communities in the evening, and that gives you more opportunities and advantages to get the community engaged in the feeding programme.
Q: What role do you play when Mary’s Meals expands into new schools?
A: When a new school is coming into the programme, the first and foremost thing we have to do is ask the school and the community to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mary’s Meals to ensure that all parties have a mutual understanding of what is expected.
Once we have that agreement, we go into the community and deal directly with the school feeding committees (groups of key stakeholders from the school and community who voluntarily meet on a regular basis to co-ordinate the running of the school feeding programme). We do volunteer training, which covers things like how the food is stored and teaching the volunteers how to prepare the food.
We support schools by helping them understand ration sizes and the feeding instructions. We also provide practical demonstrations on hygiene, and important instructions around serving children, for example what distance the children should be from the pots [for their safety] when they are served their meals.
There is so much training involved, and we must also communicate on issues of policy – like safeguarding, which I mentioned earlier.
Q: What do you enjoy the most about being a School Feeding Officer?
A: For me personally, there is so much to enjoy! I love to see the joy in the children’s hearts when you arrive at the school, that is something I enjoy a whole lot.
It’s also great to work with people who are all from different backgrounds. When you learn how to adjust yourself to the community’s culture, it makes it easier for you.
And another good thing, the name of Mary’s Meals is placed on us. That is definitely one thing I enjoy. My name is Konah, but they never call me that. When I go to communities, they shout after me ‘Mary’s Meals’ or ‘Uncle Mary’s Meals’. If the name of an organisation is placed on you, and that name is healing, it shows you exactly that the work of that organisation is really impactful. It means so much to that community, and I can tell you that for sure.
Q: Do you face any challenges in your role?
A: The are several challenges. One of the biggest is the condition of the roads in Liberia, which makes travel difficult for School Feeding Officers. It can also be a challenge if your bike breaks down as we can’t carry a spare tyre, so if you go deep into the jungle to meet the school community and you break down, it can take a long time to get another vehicle to reach you.
Another challenge is securing long-term support from the community. That’s why work to involve as many members of the community as possible. When lots of people from the community are involved, it helps ensure there are always enough volunteers to keep the programme running smoothly.
Q: And lastly, what do you think about Mary’s Meals?
A: Food is being provided to children, they concentrate in school, they learn lessons from their teachers. The impact is great!
In Liberia, we have so many staff who ate Mary’s Meals when they were younger and are now working within the community. The feeding programme offers so many development opportunities – if you compare schools where Mary’s Meals is not feeding [children] to the ones where they are, you will see that the attendance, the retention rate, it’s much higher than in schools where there is no school feeding programme.
There are other benefits too. In neighbouring Bong County, the food is purchased locally from farmers which directly benefits the community. And parents are also able to reduce some of their expenses which means there are broader, long-term benefits for the whole family too.
On the day we spoke with Konah he had just started working in his new role as School Feeding Manager – congratulations Konah!
Find out more about our work in Liberia and how you can help us feed more hungry children.
