"It was an inspirational talk about Mary’s Meals at a regional meeting that  led to my visit to
Malawi earlier this year… I decided to sponsor a kitchen and was
eventually  sent uplifting photos of
children attending school regularly because they were receiving  regular food. This spurred me on to visit
which I did, accompanied by a friend and fellow Soroptimist from SI Bristol.

by Sue Donovan, SI Heswall & District

 

"Malawi is a very poor country. We saw very few vehicles but
lots of people walking ; the women dressed in brightly coloured skirts. They
carried wood or burdens on their heads and all were bare footed. No sign of
crops or animals around Blantyre. We were accompanied by two Mary’s Meals staff
and taken a short distance along rough tracks to “my kitchen”. Ngumbe school
has 2212 children enrolled (more or less equally split between boys and girls).
The children range from Standards 1-8 (equivalent to nursery – secondary year
8), 15 permanent classrooms with the kitchen doubling up as a classroom when not
used for feeding. Seven classes have to be held outside due to lack of space.

 

"All children in Malawi are entitled to free primary
education. They can start school at the age of 6. To progress to the next
level they must pass the end of year exams. This means there can often be a
wide age range in each year group.

"We travelled over
rough tracks only a short distance from where we had spent our first night. The
contrast could not have been greater as we had been chatting to UN election
observers at breakfast. Now we were met
by a cacophony of voices, broad smiles and great purpose. The deputy head
showed us where the food was prepared in the building I had funded. This
consists of three rooms – one where cooking takes place and two storerooms – one
for firewood, stoves and buckets and other non related equipment, and one for
storage of the Likuni Phali. Here were the colourfully dressed Mums, some with
infants strapped to  their backs, singing
as they stirred the vats of  likuna porridge
being cooked on the rocket stoves. It takes about 3 hours to cook so they
arrive about 5am to collect water, get the pots ready and start cooking. We
were introduced and thanked and then encouraged to “get stirring!” – quite a
good workout!

 

"By this time we had been joined by hundreds of children curious
to see the visitors. It was explained to them who I was  – a very emotional time for me. Usually they
are fed in rotation, but as this was a special occasion, they were all out  together. The porridge is transferred to a
plastic dustbin and carried by two Mums to where the children form orderly
lines. One Mum cleans their plastic cup in a bucket of water and the second Mum
fills it with porridge. The children then sit on the bare earth and eat. We
watched some eat a little and then put a lid on their mug. It was explained
that this would then be taken home to be shared with siblings. Some children
shared their porridge with a friend at 
the school, being so unused to having anything – food or possessions
for their sole use, that they are overwhelmed when given porridge just for them.
The sharers do not miss out however because the second child then claims their
cupful and shares it with their original partner.

The back packs we had assembled in UK where very much in
evidence and obviously treasured.

 

"We were then taken to meet some of the teachers. Books are
in short supply so we watched as one lady laboriously copied out a text book
onto large sheets of paper for the class to work from. We observed  Maths and English lessons with 60 -100
children sitting on the floor. We were impressed by the way lessons were
conducted and the positive outlook of the staff – children’s answers were
encouraged and praised. We were reluctant to leave but I felt reassured that my
money had been well spent. Whenever we spoke to Malawians about Mary’s Meals
they all responded positively and were very aware of the impact that the
Charity was having on their country.

 

"We
briefly met Magnus Mc Farlane – Barrow the founder of Mary’ s Meals who
unbeknown to us had travelled on the same plane as us from Johannesburg. He was
in Malawi to chair a board meeting but graciously found time to speak to us and
thank us for our involvement. It climaxed a very rewarding day and convinced me
that his mission of ‘school + food = hope is the way forward’.