World Food Day

Every school day, 2,279,941 vulnerable children living in 20 countries around the world make the journey to class where they receive a nutritious meal served by Mary’s Meals volunteers.

The food they receive is locally sourced wherever possible – and it is made with ingredients that are readily available, of good quality and easy to store. In India, learners tuck into a vegetable curry or lentil dhal with rice. In Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, steaming mugs of vitamin-enriched porridge keep learners energised and focused during lessons. The flavours and tastes of our meals are carefully chosen in each country setting to ensure the children recognise and enjoy what they’re eating.

In the places where our meals are served, school communities are thriving, and the benefits are being felt among children and households alike.

In Kenya, one of our largest country programmes, informal schools that were previously closed are reopening and feeding children. Hundreds of new teachers are being employed and more and more children are coming to school instead of staying at home to herd animals or be prepared for early marriages.

In Madagascar, where our programme is delivered by our trusted partners Feedback Madagascar and Money for Madagascar, school enrolment is increasing. Teachers are reporting consistent attendance since the arrival of school feeding and communities are uniting to build classrooms where schools are overcrowded.

In South Sudan, children whose childhoods and futures have been marred by decades of violence are making friends and sharing meals with other learners from warring factions – a lifetime of conflict dismissed over plates of grain and beans.

Momo from Liberia is one such child who is stepping out of the shadow of poverty and looking towards a surer future thanks to the promise of a daily meal at school. Momo rises at 5:00 to hand-stitch old, broken shoes which he sells to support his four siblings and wider family. He then cleans the house and prepares the household for the day ahead. Momo does all this with hope in his heart because once the chores are done, he can go to school.

Momo’s parents left the family home to look for work when he was much younger: “They they couldn’t find jobs here,” says Momo, now 17. “They moved away to work in another town making charcoal. They send money back to us but they’re hardly able to get back to see us.”

He and his brothers and sisters are looked after by his aunt, who has 19 children and grandchildren of her own to feed.

For now, Momo will continue to balance duty with learning to support his large extended family because, he says in his own words: “there are a lot of us to feed”. However, with Mary’s Meals now part of his daily routine, he can step out of the shadow of poverty and look towards a better future where his children won’t have to choose between education and survival.

This year, World Food Day is set against the backdrop of an unprecedented global food crisis. Your little acts of love are helping young people like Momo to realise their hopes and dreams. Our school feeding programme supports and enables young people to learn skills that will help them secure a livelihood and a more stable lifestyle for their own families.