Mary's Meals

A mug of porridge offers a simple solution

A little boy sits on a wooden bench at the front of the class, pencil in hand, brow furrowed in concentration, a plastic mug hanging on a piece of string around his neck.

Peter lives in Mangochi in Malawi, just a few miles from the site of last year's Lake of Stars festival.

He is one of the 500,000 children around the world who now receive a daily meal in their place of education from Mary's Meals, a charity which believes that school feeding can offer a simple solution to the problems of hunger and poverty.

A meal a day

Mary’s Meals’ aim is straight forward – to provide a daily meal in school for children who are growing up in poverty, and through this to encourage them to get an education.

In Malawi, that food is likuni phala, a maize-based porridge developed by nutritionists. The mug of porridge draws the children to the classroom each day, and the education they gain there offers them the best chance of escaping poverty in the future.

While funding for Mary's Meals comes mostly from the UK, its projects in Malawi are managed by members of the local community and staffed by Malawian volunteers. Because resources such as ingredients and fuel are supplied by Malawian businesses and small holders, the local economy also benefits.

The charity values support from organisations such as the Lake of Stars festival, which hosted a school feeding demonstration last year, and from British musicians with links to Malawi, including Colin MacIntyre and Annie Lennox - who both recently visited projects.

School kitchens

"The kitchen is the heart of a school, as Andrew Parker, a project worker, explains: “A typical kitchen smells strongly of porridge,” he says. “It is a lovely place to be, especially when you meet the volunteers.”

Mary’s Meals kitchens are equipped with utensils and fuel-efficient cooking stoves, as well as a plastic mug for each child. The programme is feeding about 14 per cent of the school-children in Malawi, a country where poverty is widespread.

It is doing what it can to help, but there are still many thousands of hungry children, and a long waiting list of schools who have asked for support.

Little Peter carries his porridge mug on a piece of string around his neck because he knows it will be filled every day – but he still wants to make absolutely sure he won’t miss out.

"When I was seven, I left school because there was no food in my village. I was hungry all the time, so I stopped coming because I had no energy to walk to school. I came back when Mary's Meals was introduced. It gives us energy to learn and walk home."

Sustainability

Once Mary's Meals starts operating at a school, it makes a commitment to provide meals for as long as they are needed, if funding allows. It works with governments to complement national school feeding policy and capacity and always has a strategy to withdraw in the long term, once the community or economy is in a position to be self-sufficient.

While Mary's Meals' view is a long term one, its aim is to create a generation of skilled and educated young people who will be in a position to break the cycle of poverty and build a bright, sustainable future for themselves and their communities.

When Mary's Meals sets up at a new school in Malawi it builds the kitchen, then holds a 'handover ceremony' at which the keys are presented to local community leaders.

Porridge

At Namiwawa school, the arrival of the truck carrying Mary’s Meals supplies is always a cause for excitement. When the children spot it they shout “Phala!” which means “Porridge!”

There are children across Malawi, and the world, who are every bit as hungry as Peter was before school feeding started. We hope that the Mary’s Meals delivery truck could be pulling into more of their schools soon too.

• Mary's Meals welcomes financial and in kind support. You can help by making a donation, fundraising, volunteering or donating second-hand school bags and writing equipment to our backpack project. Find out more at www.marysmeals.org or call 0800 6981212.

Watch friend of the festival and Mary's Meals ambassador Colin MacIntyre in this video about his recent trip.

Catch Colin live in London next week at The Wheelbarrow, Camden, London

http://www.facebook.com/colinmacintyremull#!/event.php?eid=159544200762302