Hope blooms amid Zimbabwe’s wilting maize
12-year-old Shalom talks about how Mary’s Meals motivates her to attend school despite the unreliable rains and crop failure.
Shalom is 12 years old. She lives with her parents and her three siblings in Murewa District – a township 75 km northeast of the capital Harare – where she also attends Zorizozo Primary School.
Failed rainy seasons, extreme temperatures and the El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa have dried up her family’s garden and ruined the family’s food sources – leaving her parents struggling to feed and provide for the family.
Before Mary’s Meals started feeding at her school, Shalom would go to school feeling tired, nauseous and hungry. Now, as one of more than 100,000 children served nutritious daily porridge by Mary’s Meals in places of education in Zimbabwe, Shalom is excited to go to school and dreams of becoming a teacher.
In this interview, Shalom and her mother, Rumbidzai, talk about the impact of drought and extreme weather on their family life and how Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme is giving Shalom the energy to concentrate and learn.
Mary’s Meals: What impact is the climate having on your family in Zimbabwe?
Rumbidzai: As far as the climate is concerned, we’re not very sure of the weather patterns anymore. We have had to rely on the rains for most of our lives. But it is becoming more and more unreliable. The wells are dry, and we don’t even know when the rains are coming. When we put plants in the ground, we are not even sure if they will grow.
It is very hard to provide for the family because we are not formally employed. We survive on piece work (often casual labour, working in other people’s fields) and small-scale farming to provide for our families..
Shalom: As I pass through the fields, I see the maize meal wilting [which is our] staple food, it is drying up, it means we are now anticipating another phase of drought.
Rumbidzai: There are no rains, people don’t have any money and there’s no work being offered. We have to source the very little that we can. Sometimes we can’t even clothe our children properly for the weather. It’s just us looking at the children and not being able to provide for them.
How do you feel when you receive a daily meal at school?
Shalom: I look forward to eating porridge, it defines my day ahead. I leave home without eating anything. Knowing I am going to get a meal makes me happy and excited.
Rumbidzai: It breaks my heart when we can’t provide for her. But ever since porridge came to the school, I find comfort in her going to school.
Previously she would sometimes have to stay at home because she didn’t have energy to walk or participate in school. But now I can let her go to school happily because I know she’s going to get a meal and an education because she does not have an empty stomach.
Finally, Shalom, what are your hopes and dreams for the future?
I want to be a teacher when I grow up. I appreciate all of my teachers’ efforts – and I would like to be like them.
It costs just £19.15, €22, $25.20 USD or $31.70 CAD to provide a child with school meals for an entire school year. Mary’s Meals is currently serving nutritious daily meals to more than 1.5 million children in schools across Southern Africa. Now, more than ever, your support is needed to spread the word about our work and the emergency in the region. With your support, we can reach many thousands more children waiting for our daily meals.
Gary Armstrong is our Media Manager for Mary’s Meals UK. He recently travelled to Zimbabwe, where he spent time with children at schools in which Mary’s Meals are served.