The importance of Mary’s Meals in Zambia
Our school feeding programme is a beacon of hope for communities in Zambia, where we currently serve meals to more than 400,000 children.
Linda is 15 years old and attends Nyakutwa Primary School in Zambia’s Chipata district. Peggy volunteers as a cook at the school, helping to prepare and serve Mary’s Meals to children every school day.
In this article, we hear from Linda and Peggy on the importance of receiving and serving Mary’s Meals.
Fuelling Linda’s strategies for success
Linda is acutely aware of how challenging things are for her family and feels the effect of food insecurity, climate change and poverty in her daily life. She says: “I want to complete my education because I come from a poor home and, at home, a lot of things are difficult for us to access.”
“My mother goes through a hard time, especially when we lack things such as food, and things that I need for school. At times, there is no food at home, [and] I come without eating anything. Most of us come from our respective homes without eating anything. If there was no porridge at school, we would have to stay hungry.”
“In some instances, even when we knock off (finish school), we find that there is no food at home. We have to wait until the following day to have a cup of porridge at break time. That cup of porridge gives me the energy to participate and concentrate as the teacher takes the class.”
Linda has no electricity at home but has devised strategies to help her study, driven by her determination to complete her education. She tries as much as possible to utilise daylight to catch up on her studies. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, she has more time to study in the afternoon, but Mondays to Thursdays are more difficult, as she has lessons in the afternoon and little time to study before nightfall.
Linda is grateful to Mary’s Meals for the school meals served every school day. Without them, she knows it would be very hard for her to stay in school: “When I am hungry, I feel very weak,” she says. “I do not feel good. But when I have my cup of porridge, I can feel my energy come back.”
A lifeline in every mug
By early summer, Peggy feared she wouldn’t have enough grain to feed herself and her four children for the rest of the year. She explains: “I did some farming last rainy season, but I only have five bags of maize to last us the rest of the year.”
It’s a reality faced by millions in Zambia as the country grapples with the adverse impacts of climate change. Increased seasonal droughts are straining the country’s already vulnerable resources, particularly agriculture and food security. For the very poorest households – that are largely dependent on maize for food – having enough to feed their families is an immense challenge.
Peggy’s children also attend Nyakutwa Primary School, where Mary’s Meals are served to children every school day. The meals they receive bring much-needed relief for her family; not only do they mean that they will have food for that day but, crucially, their maize can stretch further.
“When a child eats in school, they only need one other meal at home, making the little food we have last longer,” she explains. “Instead of my maize finishing in October, it can last up to January because the children have porridge in school, and I can provide one meal at home.”
As a strong advocate of school feeding, Peggy is also a volunteer cook and impresses on other community members the importance of providing meals at school for children.
“The porridge is bringing lots of benefits to many families. My advice to my fellow mothers is, let us continue to volunteer and cook for the children, so that we can develop their lives.”
A beacon of hope
Mary's Meals is helping to relieve the anxiety that comes with not having enough food to eat at home for learners like Linda and mothers like Peggy.
Our school feeding programme in Zambia has grown from strength to strength over the past decade and reaches some of the country’s most vulnerable communities – it is a beacon of hope for more than 400,000 children.
Waluka Mwaekwa is our Communications Support Officer for Mary's Meals Zambia.
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. Read an article about how we’ve been feeding Zambia’s future for the last 10 years and learn more about how the promise of a daily enables the children we serve in Zambia to receive an education.